tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54435108325078105642014-10-13T00:12:45.571+01:00My Wales Adventure!dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-39219959527082470012011-06-05T14:56:00.000+01:002011-06-05T14:56:20.738+01:00Teary Eyed Goodbyes, The Last Blog<div class="MsoNormal">I’m sitting on the bus from O’hare airport to Rockford where my cousin Jaime is picking me up. Everything feels so surreal and almost completely foreign. That is very hard to believe considering I’m now home and no longer in the UK. My journey home started at 4:30 AM UK time or 10:30 PM Iowa time. The adventure started long before that though. Thursday night, we had a going away dinner and pub crawl for those of us from the program that were still in Bangor. Tecwyn treated us to a wonderful dinner and then of course we headed to Paddy’s for one last thirsty Thursday. We had the first of many teary eyed goodbyes that night starting with Sally who was one of the OP instructors.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The next morning (Friday) we had to have all of our boxes packed up and ready to be stored for the summer. This was also our last opportunity to say goodbye to Tecwyn and that was when it really hit me. Saying goodbye to Tecwyn meant that this all was really coming to an end. The rest of the day was filled with goodbyes to some of my flat mates that were moving out, packing up the remainder of my things and cleaning my room. Everyone decided that we should stay up all night that night because we would be heading to the Manchester airport at 4:30 in the morning. So, we all just spent our last few hours together. We played cards for hours on end and we also took one last trip to Roman Camp to do some star gazing. We had to wait until it was good and dark to star gaze, which believe it or not, was well after 11 before it was completely dark out! We continued to play cards and just enjoy our last little bit of time together until about 4 when we called it quits. We were shortly all in tears as we loaded our luggage into the back of the bus that was picking us up. This would be the last time we would all be together in Bangor. Lydia and Rachel were not going on the bus with us and it was very hard to say goodbye. Pretty much everyone was in tears by the time we loaded the bus. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Our drive to Manchester was very bittersweet. We got to watch a beautiful sunrise as we looked across the sea for the last time. I soaked in as much of the beautiful surroundings as I could; it was just so sad knowing the next time I woke up it wouldn’t be surrounded by the beautiful Snowdonia Mountains. When we arrived at the airport we had to do another round of goodbyes because Sheilagh, Jake and Melissa were flying out of a different terminal than we were, so once again I ended up in tears. I knew I would see Jake again but it was very hard saying goodbye to Melissa who is from Texas and Sheilagh who is from Minnesota. All these wonderful people were my family for the last 5 and ½ months and I just didn’t want it to be over and I sure didn’t want to say goodbye. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Once we were finally at our part of the airport we all unloaded our stuff and headed for the check in counter. We were plenty early because it wasn’t even 6:30 and out plane didn’t leave until 10:40. Better to be safe than sorry. I had a little trouble checking in because I think the lady that waited on me was in a bad mood. I had never had any troubles in the past and no one else had any problems either but the lady didn’t want to allow me to use my backpack at my personal item. She said it was too big for a personal item but I had always used it that way in the past and everyone else was doing the same thing as me. I had a smaller bag that was just small enough to be considered a carry on which she also had a problem with. She made me put it in the box to make sure it was the right size. I knew it was because before I left I purposely got a smaller one to make sure it was the acceptable size. She told me I needed to take stuff out of my backpack and put it in my checked bag but that bag was pretty much ready to burst and it was barely under the weight limit. I really didn’t see what the big problem was but I did what I was told and she eventually gave in. We were all also interrogated pretty heavily about what types of things we had in our bags (such as electronics) and where we bought everything, and who packed out bags, and where the bags had been. I felt like I had done something wrong but I guess I passed because I got through. Next, we went through security which was a little different from any other time I had gone through security. I was most surprised that I didn’t have t take my shoes off. By the time we all got through security we still had a 3 hour wait before we could even get to our gate. Once they finally called our gate we headed through one last security stop and of course, lucky me, I got picked to be randomly searched. This involved a lady frisking me and then searching every single little nook and cranny of my 2 bags, oh, and I had to take off my shoes. I felt bad when she was checking my back pack because it had like 500 zippers on it. It took about 10 minutes for her to get through everything so by the time she was done it was time to board the plane. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">By this time I had been awake for 26 hours and counting so I was starting to feel a little out of it. I kept telling myself that I should have slept the night before because I’m no good at sleeping while sitting up and it was bound to be a miserable flight if I was awake the whole 8 and ½ hours. As the plane took off I couldn’t fight back the tears at all. It was really happening, we were really leaving. I was so happy to be going home but I was also so sad to be leaving such a wonderful place behind. I did manage to doze off a little bit, but of course and soon as I feel asleep they were serving our food. I was lucky enough to be able to sit next to Riley and she was out cold. I jabbed and poked and yelled her name but I got no response out of her, wish I could sleep like that. After the food I think I managed to fall asleep for about 20 minutes but other than that I was awake the whole time on the plane. I enjoyed the in flight movie and I did some reading so the time passed rather quickly. Before I knew it, the captain (who happened to be the first female captain I have ever had on a flight) was announcing we would be shortly arriving in Chicago where the temp would be 89<sup>o</sup>. Yeah I didn’t miss the heat and humidity associated with the Midwest summers. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Once we landed I expected it to take hours to get through boarder control and customs but it only took about 15 minutes! At boarder control I just handed the guy my passport and he stamped it and didn’t say anything to me at all. At customs, they didn’t even look in my bags or ask me any questions. They just took the claims sheet I filled out and I was on my way. So, by this point everyone else had to give their checked bags back to be loaded on their next plane while I headed off to find my shuttle. Yet another round of teary eyed goodbyes, at least these were the last goodbyes; the next tears would be teary eyed hellos. Everyone that I said goodbye to at this point was from Iowa so there is a good chance I will run into them all again someday. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As I sit on the shuttle to Rockford texting my friends, it’s really hitting me that I’m home. It sure didn’t feel like I was gone for 5 and ½ months; it feels more like a couple of weeks. It also feels really weird to be driving on the right side of the road. I think the culture shock of coming home is going to be worse than when I went over to the UK. I have already noticed how lazy and demanding the “Americans” can be. I got on the bus and the driver asked who hadn’t purchased their tickets yet and a few people said they had not. He told them where the ticket counter was and that they should go get the tickets. They were like “is this guy for real? Or is he kidding?” Needless to say they had to get off the bus to get their tickets. In the UK, from what I noticed, no one would have made a fuss about that, they would have done what they needed to do and just got on with it. Hopefully the shock won’t be too bad since I will be too busy to think about it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">………………………………</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So fast forward a few hours and I’m home in Balltown! After waiting for what felt like forever for Jaime to come get me in Rockford I finally made it. Because I was able to get on an earlier shuttle, I beat my ride to Rockford. I couldn’t believe how hot it was, but after all, it is June in the Midwest. I wasn’t conditioned to this humidity and it can go away anytime. But anyways, it was so amazing seeing Gram and Jaime and Briella for the first time. I’m so lucky to have such a great family. Miss Briella played hard to get and acted all shy at first. Eventually, she warmed up and decided to be silly the rest of the way home. When I got to Gram’s, my best friend Ashley was able to stop in and it was so great to see her too! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After being awake for an unmentionable amount of hours I still had more to do. I had a wedding in Bunie to go to so I cleaned myself up and headed out. I made dad come get me once I got to Balltown because I was so tired I didn’t want to drive anymore. I was so excited that driving all came back to me. It felt weird to be driving on the right side of the street and to have the steering wheel on the left side of the car. The few times that I was in a car in Wales, I sat in the front seat and it always felt so weird not having the steering wheel in front of me. Everything came back to me and it felt amazing to be behind the wheel but I was happy to give it up so I didn’t pass out behind the wheel. It was so surreal being at the wedding and seeing everyone. It was hard to believe that just a few short hours before that I was in a whole different country. I enjoyed a few beers with friends but I tell ya what, it felt so amazing to lay my head on my pillow in my own bed! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Sitting here at the dining room table just doesn’t feel real. I can’t believe such an amazing part of my life is over but that means it is time to start a new adventure. Thank you to all of you that followed my blog. I can’t wait to see you all and tell you all the adventures in person. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Lots of Love,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">~Amy</div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-14071679219300803102011-06-03T19:41:00.000+01:002011-06-03T19:41:32.155+01:00One Last AdventureI keep saying how sad I am that I didn't travel all over Europe this semester but I really did enjoy my three visits to London. If I didn't have a great family at home and a bunch of wonderful friends I could totally leave my life behind and settle into the great city. I would more or less say I'm a country girl at heart but there is just something about London that makes me so happy. I love the buzz of the city and there is always something exciting going on. If you end up being bored in London, then you are not trying at all to have any fun. If I would have studied in London this semester I would have been out of money in a month, I&nbsp;guarantee&nbsp;it! I could easily spend the rest of my life's savings going to the shows in London alone! Overall, going to London three times was worth not traveling around the rest of Europe, guess I will just have to come back sometime in the future and see what I all missed!<br /><br />Monday morning started out at 5 AM and not because I wanted to. I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep because I was so excited. Around 6 I finally rolled out of bed and decided to get ready for the day. By 7:30 I was showered and fed and all ready to walk out the door. We were almost to the train station when I realized I forgot my iPod so I ran all the way back to the room to get it. Traveling is never fun without music so I thought it was worth going back for. By the time I started walking back to the station, Riley was on her way back up because she forgot her concert tickets. Good thing we left early. I waited for Riley and once she caught up to me we decided to run just in case the train was early. Good thing we did because by the time we got to the platform the train was just about ready to pull away. I was exhausted by the time we got on the train because it is just so much fun running up and down hills at 7:30 in the morning with a huge back pack. Oh well, we made it. Funny part was, Riley and I are usually waiting for Sheilagh and she was the one that had it all together that morning. The remainder of the trip everything that would go wrong we referred to as riding the "struggle bus" haha!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AxlFEPgfM3M/TejmiGQSNyI/AAAAAAAAAH4/Slt7ZEblB7E/s1600/DSC05302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AxlFEPgfM3M/TejmiGQSNyI/AAAAAAAAAH4/Slt7ZEblB7E/s200/DSC05302.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>The rest of the travels to London were pretty uneventful. It rained the whole way there so we decided instead of walking to our hostel we would jump on the underground. There is something beautifully awful that I love about the underground. The people are packed into these tiny little trains that go through little tubs at 90 miles an hour, just crazy, but I love it. We also had to rework our route because one of the lines was closed that we wanted to take. Everything in London is currently under construction because they are revamping everything for the&nbsp;Olympics&nbsp;in 2012. Once at our hostel we were told we were too early to check in so we ate our lunch, put our back packs in the luggage storage and headed out to explore. The day cleared up petty nice so the walk was enjoyable. We decided we wanted to go inside of Westminster Abbey so thats where we headed. Westminster is the most glamorous abbey I have been in this semester and it is very sad that there were no pictures allowed. There were hundreds of tombs of kings and queens and other famous people in the Abbey. I thought the coolest one was Charles Darwin. After the Abbey we still had plenty of time before Wicked started and the weather was kind of turning ugly so we headed for a pub. We had a round in the bar area and then eventually moved upstairs for some grub. I even managed to snatch my guiness glass before we left.Wicked was so amazing yet again! I love it more and more every time I see it. If I had the opportunity to I would see it everyday. I hope they make it into a movie some day!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IFakCS1eWOk/Tejx2MTk1jI/AAAAAAAAAIA/ySvlQxDy3Ao/s1600/DSC05310.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IFakCS1eWOk/Tejx2MTk1jI/AAAAAAAAAIA/ySvlQxDy3Ao/s200/DSC05310.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p5r_ncgMb2Y/Tejxj8XE5cI/AAAAAAAAAH8/SE6bdGS6S8I/s1600/DSC05307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p5r_ncgMb2Y/Tejxj8XE5cI/AAAAAAAAAH8/SE6bdGS6S8I/s200/DSC05307.JPG" width="200" /></a>The next day started with a trip to Wimbledon. Riley and Sheilagh are both big fans of tennis so they really enjoyed themselves. I also enjoyed myself but I'm not really into tennis. It was a nice long ride on the District line of the underground that we took all the way to the end. Then we enjoyed a nice long walk to the stadium. It was really a beautiful area and the stadium was cool to see from the outside. After our walk around the stadium we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and then headed back into the heart of London. We were still plenty early for Phantom of the Opera that we would be seeing that afternoon so we decided to walk around the National Gallery in the meantime. Our friend Tiia who is from Finland and was also studying in the Bangor program this semester was also in London and met up with us at that point. The National Gallery was pretty cool and the best part was seeing one of Van Gogh's original paintings. Once it was 2:30 it was show time for Phantom! It was so amazing!!! The things they did with the stage just blew my mind and the acting and singing was perfect. I feel so lucky to have been able to see one of the greatest shows of all time. The show has been running at the Her Majesty the Queen Theatre for the past 25 years. I thought Wicked was amazing but Phantom left me speechless. I love both shows so much, I can't even decide which one I liked better. After the show we decided to do the south side of the river walk like we had done the first time we were in London. Sheilagh had not done the walk before and neither had Tiia. It was a beautiful night and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Sheilagh and I broke down and spent the 18 pounds to ride the London Eye which was spectacular. The Eye is basically this huge ferris wheel and you can see the&nbsp;entirety&nbsp;of the city. The best part of it was seeing&nbsp;Parliament&nbsp;from above.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1mJdzQYWQx4/Tekn3qflx2I/AAAAAAAAAII/3bw9x0gx3vM/s1600/DSC05347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1mJdzQYWQx4/Tekn3qflx2I/AAAAAAAAAII/3bw9x0gx3vM/s200/DSC05347.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E-ZvdRoqfJU/TeknkoLLyLI/AAAAAAAAAIE/5oJWo08CWhw/s1600/DSC05328.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E-ZvdRoqfJU/TeknkoLLyLI/AAAAAAAAAIE/5oJWo08CWhw/s200/DSC05328.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NQ6rOdY5Cx4/TekoK_1IccI/AAAAAAAAAIM/TAGlBjC2_T0/s1600/DSC05356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NQ6rOdY5Cx4/TekoK_1IccI/AAAAAAAAAIM/TAGlBjC2_T0/s200/DSC05356.JPG" width="200" /></a><br /><br /><br />The next day after checking out of the hostel we headed to Abbey Road to see the Beatles' studio and to walk across the street just like on their album cover. We ended up completely missing the studio the first time and by the time we walked the entire length of Abbey Road we broke down and called one of the girls back in Bangor to ask exactly where it was located. She said it was right at the beginning so we turned around and walked back. When we got to the start of the road we easily saw why we missed it the first time around. The studio was under construction and the outside was completely surrounded by blue scaffolding. Oh well! It was also easy to miss the cross walk because there were tons of them and they all looked exactly the same. After that wild goose chase we headed for another one. We went to King's Cross Station to try and find&nbsp;platform&nbsp;9 and 3/4 from the Harry Potter books. King's Cross station was also under some major construction so we never actually found it. We were going to ask for directions to it but we were all getting tired of searching. We weren't far from Euston station so we walked there and waited for our train. The ride home was full of cards and we very uneventful. It is sad to think we won't be traveling by train anymore. I love the train system and it's too bad there isn't one in the states.<br /><br />The next time I blog it will be the last time. Today is my last in Wales and in just a few short hours I will be heading to the airport. I will say it again but it is very hard to believe it's time to go home already. The last couple of days have been full of bittersweet memories and goodbyes. It is so hard to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I have met this semester but hopefully we can all cross paths again someday. I have had a wonderful family of friends here in Wales and i'm going to miss them all so much.<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-8565952741537250992011-05-27T19:44:00.000+01:002011-05-27T19:44:57.751+01:00Final ExamsOn Thursday I had my first and last exam of the semester. If I was at home I would have been studying all semester to prepare myself for my finals but this semester I didn't do any actual studying until 2 days before my final. I have throughly enjoyed a stress free semester but it is going to suck getting back into the swing of things next semester. If I was at home I also would have had 5 final exams, but I wasn't at home and I'm ok with that. The exam was for ecology and evolution, a class I will never ever use again. Because I will never use this information again it made it even harder to motivate myself to study. I love biology; human biology that is. I could really care less about natural biology. It's not that I don't care about the environment I just don't care about learning about it, and that is exactly what ecology is all about it. It is all about nature and how and why it works the way it does, and evolution, well I will see that all again next year.<br /><br />All semester I kept telling myself I should start studying but there was something about the laid back feel of the classes that stopped my motivation. Before I knew it, it was two days before my final and I still hadn't started studying. So, on Tuesday I packed my stuff up and headed for the library determined to make myself study. I did manage to go over all 35 front and back pages of my notes and go over my online tests. Another thing that made it hard to study was the amount of information that we had gotten over the course of the semester. We had so many notes and the test was only 40&nbsp;multiple&nbsp;choice questions. It is hard to study so much information when the questions would be so pin point. So off and on (and more off than on) for the next two days I tried to keep going over my notes to prepare me for something impossible.<br /><br />As I was walking with my flatmate to the exam we were discussing what it would be like. I said I hoped that there would be at least one question about Darwin because I was sure I could get something about Darwin correct. And to my luck the first question was about Darwin, but guess what I wasn't sure about the answer. Of course the question would be one I didn't know. I was debating over 2 of the choices and picked one but than changed my mind. When you aren't sure on an answer you should always go with your gut, but of course I didn't. When I came back after the test I looked it up and realized my first pick was the correct one. Oh well! The rest of the exam was about like the first question. I was able to narrow most questions down to 2 choices and I had a few that I was sure on. The test was graded on a negative score meaning you get +5 for correct answers and -1 for incorrect answers and there was always a choice of "I don't know" which I chose quite often. It would have been nice to not have negative points because then I could have made a few blind guesses. Oh well, I'm going to hope for the best. I should have had a passing grade going into the test so hopefully I got enough points to get me to a decent grade. I won't find out my grades until the middle of July so i'm going to forget about it for now.<br /><br />Hard to believe I will be going home a week from tomorrow. This next week should be fun and I'm going to make the &nbsp;most of it. Today, we went to Chester and it was a lot of fun. Hopefully there will be a lot of celebrating between now and next Saturday because I am completely done with everything and I want to enjoy the freedom!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-5584089894372033392011-05-22T14:23:00.000+01:002011-05-22T14:23:57.065+01:00Nothing too excitingWell, I don't have anything too exciting to report. I'm down to the last 2 weeks here and I'm just lying low, trying to save what little money I have left so I'm not completely broke when I get home. I have all of my papers and journals written with just one exam to study for. My exam is Thursday so I think I will start studying tomorrow. On Wednesday we walked to the botanical gardens in search of a ship wreck and a waterfall. We wandered around but never found them. It was beautiful so no big deal. Thursday I worked on my paper all day. It shouldn't have taken all day but I got it done none the less. Friday, we drove around with Hannah's flatmate who is from around here. She has a car and was willing to drive us around so we took her up on the offer. It was nice just driving around with friends just hanging out. We revisited a few places on Angelsey and we jammed out to a bunch of music over and over. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself. Friday, we ventured to Llandudno Junction for another movie. We went to see the new Pirates movie and we almost didn't get it. The place was packed because it was opening weekend. I love Johnny Depp so it doesn't matter if he makes a crap movie or a great movie, I will love it either way. The movie wasn't his best but I still loved it. After we returned we had a bit of a going away/birthday party. It was the soccer boys' last night here before they headed back home so we had to have a party. One of them was celebrating their birthday so we had to help him out with the celebrations. It was a fun night and its sad to see them go. Crazy how fast our time here has gone but I'm about ready to come home. Today, is a sappy movie day. I watched The Last Song earlier which was actually really good. Now I'm watching Charlie St. Cloud. Any more recommendations?<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-50027894909716259852011-05-16T16:42:00.000+01:002011-05-16T16:42:00.333+01:00Penrhyn CastleSunday was our last field trip of the semester; so sad to think it was the last. Seems like we just got here and it seems like it was just yesterday we walked into our first castle. It's amazing how many castles we have seen this semester; before coming here I didn't even know there were this many castles out there. Sunday's castle was not like a castle at all except for the look on the outside. The inside was like a ginormous mansion. Everything about the inside was glamorous and extravagant. We couldn't take any pictures on the inside so there is nothing for me to show off. I could go on and on about the detail but that would get boring. We also toured the gardens which were beautiful. I have pictures on facebook posted of many tropical plants that grow there. Because the gardens are so sheltered they have swampy aspects and are perfect for growing tropical plants. There were plants with leafs that were bigger than my whole body, quite crazy! The whole time we were walking around it was raining so that kind of put a damper on the beauty. It also took away from the view, which I'm told is quite spectacular.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yBE-2E9K1Nw/TdFE199AN_I/AAAAAAAAAHo/NG2BajOCeNg/s1600/DSC05270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yBE-2E9K1Nw/TdFE199AN_I/AAAAAAAAAHo/NG2BajOCeNg/s320/DSC05270.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7YrQ_gDKKlY/TdFE30W6okI/AAAAAAAAAHs/w-9h1nCXQHo/s1600/DSC05289.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7YrQ_gDKKlY/TdFE30W6okI/AAAAAAAAAHs/w-9h1nCXQHo/s320/DSC05289.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6s4LTvhgveE/TdFE5yibSzI/AAAAAAAAAHw/Rm8bitD0xUs/s1600/DSC05291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6s4LTvhgveE/TdFE5yibSzI/AAAAAAAAAHw/Rm8bitD0xUs/s320/DSC05291.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zkwn84SXWh0/TdFE7-mFv_I/AAAAAAAAAH0/0NjtqFdrK8A/s1600/DSC05294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zkwn84SXWh0/TdFE7-mFv_I/AAAAAAAAAH0/0NjtqFdrK8A/s320/DSC05294.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now that the semester is coming to an end, I'm just working on wrapping everything up. I have one final on the 26th that I'm having a really &nbsp;hard time motivating myself to study for. I haven't had to study all semester so why start now? Hopefully I can make myself study so send some motivation my way! I just finished up the last of my journals for Tecwyn's class so the only bit of writing I have left is my "What is Welshness" paper. Can't believe I will be back home in less than 3 weeks!&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Until next time...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">~Amy</div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-66908067185248526752011-05-13T19:18:00.001+01:002011-05-13T19:18:55.457+01:00Sad to see it end...<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Wednesday morning was different from any other Wednesday morning I have had since I have been here. Normally we head out for OP on Thursdays but this week we were in for a treat and headed out on Wednesday instead. The weather wasn't great come Wednesday morning but it soon cleared up and it was sure to be a beautiful day. We were all in suspense if we were going to get to go sailing because it was the only activity we hadn't done yet but we soon found out it just wasn't going to work. That ended up being ok. I wasn't overly excited to go sailing anyways. What I really wanted to do was give surfing a second try and that was exactly what we got to do, but I will get to that eventually. So this was our last&nbsp;outing&nbsp;for OP and it also included an overnight camping trip. We were in no hurry for the day because we had no deadline, we literally had all day. So instead of doing just surfing we decided to play monkey again, but before we did that we got to say hi to Tuesday's group. They had camped out the night before and were just returning shortly after we arrived at the center. They looked a little worse for the wear, but that happens after a full day of surfing and then a night of sleeping on the ground. They said they had a ton of fun surfing and camping was fun too. They left the tents up so at least we wouldn't have to do that part, everything would be ready for us when we got there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9TpaSjFY3Zo/Tc11Fnj4H3I/AAAAAAAAAHc/CKuD85mr6tc/s1600/DSC05174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9TpaSjFY3Zo/Tc11Fnj4H3I/AAAAAAAAAHc/CKuD85mr6tc/s200/DSC05174.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">I just missed!</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-568zdSEb-7o/Tc10wwuZidI/AAAAAAAAAHY/3pBCeKYm5dM/s1600/DSC05162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-568zdSEb-7o/Tc10wwuZidI/AAAAAAAAAHY/3pBCeKYm5dM/s200/DSC05162.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">So, back to the monkey part. If you remember, the very first OP day we played around in the trees on the high and low ropes courses and we did the trapeze jump. There was another "activity" in the trees that we didn't have time to do that day so we decided to give it a try. It is called Jacob's Ladder and it is basically a huge ladder made out of logs and wires. Each log&nbsp;consistently&nbsp;gets further from the next one as you travel higher and high with the first two being about 3 feet apart. You work in teams of three, with 3 people climbing and 3 people on the ground belaying the climbers. I wasn't too crazy about giving it a try but I wasn't going to pass it up either, so we clipped in and headed toward the sky. The couple of logs were easy and we were able to get up independently of each other. By about the third one we had to start working out a plan of action to get to the next. We helped Melissa get up first and then I went up second, Melissa helping from above and Lauren helping from below. Melissa and I then pulled Lauren up. This worked well for one or two logs but eventually the logs got too far apart for this method to work. Lauren is very monkey like and was able to help herself up more than I was able to so it ended up working just fine. We helped Melissa get up and then I would go and then Lauren would grab on with her arms and then legs and we would help pull her up as much as possible. Eventually I just got too exhausted and too scared to go any higher. We were only 2 from the top but I couldn't possibly get any higher. It was terrifying being up there balancing on logs. I knew that if I fell I would be just fine because I was attached to the rope but the terror overcame me. I couldn't go on, but I was ok with that, I climbed really high and gave it my all. After everyone had there go on the ladder we decided to give the trapeze jump another try. I was so close to getting it the last time and I was pretty determined to get it this time.&nbsp;I guess I needed a little more determination or a little less fear. I think, if it is possible, I have developed a fear of heights these past 11 activities. I remember coming into the high ropes course at the beginning of the semester fearless and now I get scared on every heights activity. By the time I climbed to the little platform I had a hard time letting go of the tree and edging myself to the end. I eventually talked myself into and jumped. I touched the trapeze again but not enough to grab it. It wasn’t being on the platform that got me worked up, it was the getting there. If I could avoid the climbing part I think I would be fine. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eJ8Ju8H1zvU/Tc11mE6CJYI/AAAAAAAAAHk/dJkor9idHl8/s1600/DSC05195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eJ8Ju8H1zvU/Tc11mE6CJYI/AAAAAAAAAHk/dJkor9idHl8/s200/DSC05195.JPG" width="154" /></span></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d0C_NzA3f6s/Tc11bGFYKsI/AAAAAAAAAHg/_MO5cn0iEzQ/s1600/DSC05193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d0C_NzA3f6s/Tc11bGFYKsI/AAAAAAAAAHg/_MO5cn0iEzQ/s200/DSC05193.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">That ended up being the end of the high ropes course. We took forever on the ladder so we decided to get into the wet suits and head for the sea. As always, it was great fun getting into the wet suits; that is one thing I won’t miss about OP. We got everything packed up for surfing and for camping and headed out. The first beach we stopped at didn’t have good waves so we continued down the road to the next one. Llion told us the waves at that beach were as good as they were going to get so we headed out. The waves were bigger and coming in faster than the first time we surfed and I was ok with that. It was also about 50 degrees warmer and the water felt much better too. It was actually rather refreshing in the water. I was so excited, there was nothing that was going to bring me down this time. Since we already knew what we were doing we just jumped right in. More or less we just kind of ended up playing around in the waves. The guys had really good luck with standing up early. Some of the waves were perfect but I never seemed to be on my board at the right time. It was ok I was having a great time just playing in the water either way. I did manage to ride a few waves in on my stomach and I even got to my keens a few times. My arms were just exhausted from the morning’s activity and from all the paddling. The key to surfing is to paddle before the wave gets to you so every time one is close you have to paddle paddle paddle! After doing that a few times, and finally catching a wave, I wouldn’t have enough strength to push myself up onto the board. But I sure had fun trying! I gave it my all and I will have to give it a go the next time I have the opportunity to do so! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">For the last time, we got to change in the parking lot and thankfully there were showers at the campsite. At least we didn’t have to stay full of salt and sand over night. It was nice having the camp site set up for us when we got there. All we had to do was put our sleeping bags in the tent and start the grills. We lit the coals, showered and then started all the yummy food. On Tuesday, Riley and I bought supplies for the night and we were 100% sure no one would go hungry! We had a feast including homemade chocolate chunk cookies, hot dogs, hamburgers and enough potatoes to feed an army. I cut up potatoes for an hour the night before just to make sure we would have enough. We took turns grilling and eventually, just like I suspected, everyone was stuffed. There was plenty of food to go around. The best part about the campsite was the fact that it was just a short walk away from a cute little pub. What more could you ask for? A day of surfing, grilling and then a pub to relax in. It was bound to be a great night! We had a couple of rounds and then headed back to the camp site for s’mores, ghost stories and games. It was a great night of bonding with the group. I was so exhausted after the day’s activities that I thought I would fall fast asleep but it didn’t work out quite as planned. It took me forever to fall asleep, probably because I’m spoiled and I don’t like to sleep on the ground. Oh well, it was worth it after the awesome day we had! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">The next morning we were cooked out of our tents around 8; the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day! We packed up and headed home. We cleaned up and put everything away and then reminisced about the whole semester. It is really crazy how fast it went by. It feels like just yesterday we were putting on the purple suits for the first time! OP was on of the greatest opportunities I have had since I’ve been here! I can’t wait to try all of these activities again someday!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Until next time…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">~Amy <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-66953898335380285322011-05-09T17:43:00.000+01:002011-05-09T17:43:20.200+01:00Last Norman Castle and the Welsh Mountain ZooIt's hard to believe that I have been here for 4 months already and I have less than a month left before it is time to head back to Iowa. It seems like just yesterday I was scared out of my mind walking off that plane in Manchester. It also seems like just yesterday when we headed to our first of many castles. The first castle we visited was Caenarfon and it was absolutely breathtaking. We do have one field trip left next week, and it does involve a castle, but not a Norman castle; it's a modern castle (but I will talk about that after I visit it). Anyways, I have visited more castles than most native Welsh people ever have or will visit in just one semester.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wBtYmHrIOgc/TcgSDxuPZmI/AAAAAAAAAHE/HBxnFsInVig/s1600/DSC05074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wBtYmHrIOgc/TcgSDxuPZmI/AAAAAAAAAHE/HBxnFsInVig/s200/DSC05074.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fkCuOQxBm3w/TcgRQ09jo6I/AAAAAAAAAHA/K6iKDer3GyE/s1600/DSC05078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fkCuOQxBm3w/TcgRQ09jo6I/AAAAAAAAAHA/K6iKDer3GyE/s200/DSC05078.JPG" width="150" /></a>The last Norman castle we visited this semester was also the one that was closest to us. On Sunday we visited the town of Conway that has one of the most beautiful castles out there. The town also has one of the only still intact&nbsp;medieval town walls. We started our tour of the city by walking almost completely around the town walls. It was super cool towering over the city on the walls. You could see for miles in every direction from every point of the wall; great line of defense back in the day. Once we arrived at the castle there was plenty of exploring to be done. We went in search of the well and the&nbsp;dungeon&nbsp;that Tecwyn told us were must sees. Having a well inside the castle walls was also a great line of defense and was also quite uncommon for that time in history. Having a water source inside the castle would allow the people inside it to hold out longer against attackers. The well had to be quite deep to be reliable so that was cool to see. It took us awhile to actually find the dungeon but in the mean time we climbed the towers and walked the walls. From the towers the castle on the inside was amazing. All of the other castles we have been too have just been wide open for the most part on the inisde, but no this one. This one had all sorts of chambers and sections; very unique! Once we found the dungeon it was easy to see why it would be feared. Once in it, there was really no way out. The only way in was through a trap door, so you didn't want to be someone who wound up in there because there was no way you were getting out.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1lc-Nwy4vwQ/TcgUqiEkB2I/AAAAAAAAAHI/XrvoIgHQjaE/s1600/DSC05092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1lc-Nwy4vwQ/TcgUqiEkB2I/AAAAAAAAAHI/XrvoIgHQjaE/s200/DSC05092.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6YweVck4IMA/TcgU-US85aI/AAAAAAAAAHM/nE6tkcj-KHE/s1600/DSC05095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6YweVck4IMA/TcgU-US85aI/AAAAAAAAAHM/nE6tkcj-KHE/s200/DSC05095.JPG" width="200" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qI7b_2yBMIE/TcgWuVqG9AI/AAAAAAAAAHU/Y93IDayVjZM/s1600/DSC05130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qI7b_2yBMIE/TcgWuVqG9AI/AAAAAAAAAHU/Y93IDayVjZM/s200/DSC05130.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVVayGB9Igs/TcgWbOa7ZoI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/VFRG7YaEnXQ/s1600/DSC05123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pVVayGB9Igs/TcgWbOa7ZoI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/VFRG7YaEnXQ/s200/DSC05123.JPG" width="200" /></a>After Conway we headed to Colwyn Bay to visit the Welsh Mountain Zoo. I haven't been to a zoo in many years so this was quite the treat. There is something about being at a zoo that makes me feel like a kid. Of course the Welsh Mountain Zoo was no San Diego Zoo or any other major city zoo, but it was still pretty cool. When we first pulled in the first animal we saw off the right left was a big old brown bear. I'm sure they strategically placed the bear right at the&nbsp;entrance&nbsp;to get everyone excited, and hey it worked! Some of my other favorite attractions had to be the reptile house, the sea lions and top of the list would have to bee the tigers. We even got to see a bird show that included a penguin march. After the bird show there was a sea lion training but we had to leave, I was super sad. One of the best parts about zoos are their play grounds. We got to mess around on the slides and the tire swings and the obstacle courses.<br /><br />So this week I'm working on a lab report and some journals. Other than that all I have is a final on the 26th. So from here on out I should be able to take it easy... haha hard to take it any easier than I already have these past few months, but I will try ;o)<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-33123066076955313582011-05-06T18:41:00.000+01:002011-05-06T18:41:31.002+01:00Sea-Level TraversingOn Thursday, for outdoor pursuits, we went sea-level traversing. I have been looking forward to going sea-leveling for most of the semester. We only had two activities left to choose from, so we knew that we would either be sailing or sea-leveling. Since Llion didn't have a helper for the day, that meant we would be sea-leveling and I was ok with that.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T12bDoTct3Q/TcQyGeip6-I/AAAAAAAAAG4/6YcaDTh5ceQ/s1600/DSC05059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T12bDoTct3Q/TcQyGeip6-I/AAAAAAAAAG4/6YcaDTh5ceQ/s200/DSC05059.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DK9r4o4c90k/TcQxervLpkI/AAAAAAAAAGw/HGO7XSVLkjM/s1600/DSC05038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DK9r4o4c90k/TcQxervLpkI/AAAAAAAAAGw/HGO7XSVLkjM/s200/DSC05038.JPG" width="200" /></a>Once again we got to gear up in the good old wet suits. They are just so much fun to put on but oh so helpful in keep us nice and warm in the freezing cold water. We headed to the cliffs called the Range that are near Holyhead. It was a rainy crappy day so it didn't really matter that we would be playing near the sea; we were gonna get wet anyways. The trick was not falling on your butt while walking on the wet grass. The cliffs that we were traversing on were perfect. It was like climbing on huge flat rocks piled one on top of another. There were tons of hand and foot holds. And for those of you who may be shady on what traversing is, it is basically just climbing sideways. We were climbing right at sea level and the water wasn't exactly calm. The waves were constantly crashing against the rocks, which made it a little nerve racking at times. A few times we even had to cross rocks that would be completely covered when the waves crashed in. This caused us to time our moves quite carefully. Sometimes the waves would crash up higher than we were tall. It was pretty terrifying when we first got started but we eventually got used to it.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rvAEe-DjIhE/TcQxyeK0lzI/AAAAAAAAAG0/8_1hD9hJjjE/s1600/DSC05048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rvAEe-DjIhE/TcQxyeK0lzI/AAAAAAAAAG0/8_1hD9hJjjE/s200/DSC05048.JPG" width="200" /></a>Another thing we had to do while traversing was Tyrolean Traverse, which is traversing across on a rope. There was a gully that we had to get past that we could traverse across so Llion rigged a rope from one side to the other. He first had to do his spider monkey thing and jump across by timing the waves just right. Basically when he was done rigging the rope it looked like we would have to tight rope across. In reality, we hooked ourselves to the rope by the karabiner on our harnesses and then we crossed our legs over the rope and then pulled ourselves across with our arms. It was super intimidating because even having the water 6 feet above the water, once all your weight was on it, you sunk down a bit and the waves were crashing, so you were sure to end up getting wet. Needless to say I was a little scared when it was my turn to go, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. The hardest part was when you got to the other side and you had to drop yourself down from the rope and then climb up while still being attached to the rope.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YFc7isNxIFw/TcQyYSaDU5I/AAAAAAAAAG8/Nr1OOqUhYto/s1600/DSC05065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YFc7isNxIFw/TcQyYSaDU5I/AAAAAAAAAG8/Nr1OOqUhYto/s200/DSC05065.JPG" width="150" /></a><br />The whole day was a lot of fun. We even came to a cave at one point that we got to go into. We didn't get to explore much, it wouldn't have been that fun since we didn't have any lights, but it was still fun. The last challenge for the day was when we got to jump in and swim across a little gully. It was only a little scary&nbsp;because&nbsp;there were jelly fish in the water where we were jumping. They were tiny but i'm sure their bite was worse than their bark. It was ok, they didn't really come near us when we were swimming. It was funny when I jumped because my wellies (aka my boots) started to come off when I tried to swim across. So it looked like I was really struggling but in reality I was trying really hard to swim without kicking my legs. And then I had to fight with the waves. As soon as I would get a grip on the rock to pull myself out, a wave would come and pull me back in. It was rather&nbsp;comical&nbsp;but I eventually pulled myself out of the water.&nbsp;Surprisingly&nbsp;it wasn't as cold as I expected it to be. It was rather refreshing and pretty well enjoyable.<br /><br />Next week, we are doing an overnight camping adventure. The last activity we have to do is sailing, but if the weather doesn't cooperate then our second choice is surfing again. And if that doesn't work out we may do some sea-leveling again. Either way, that night we are camping and we are told there is a pub down the road, so if nothing else works out we can always go pubbing as Llion said :o)<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-17110535719445523322011-05-06T11:39:00.000+01:002011-05-06T11:39:56.783+01:00His adventure makes mine look like a day in the park!So as many of you know a friend of mine from back home has been backpacking across Europe for the past 6 weeks. Frank Sigwarth is a friend I grew up with and I feel so fortunate that he made time to stop in and see me here in Bangor. He arrived here on Tuesday and then headed for Ireland on Thursday morning. As we wandered around Bangor on Tuesday afternoon he told me the stories of where he had all been and I was just in awe. He started his journey 6 weeks ago in Spain. The story of his first night in Spain was pretty exciting and scary at the same time. Just the fact that he has been traveling by himself the whole time, to me is just crazy, I wish I was brave enough to just head out with a backpack for 7 weeks. He also told me stories of the other places he went like Paris, all over Italy, Germany, Amsterdam, Oxford and more. I was wondering why he would even think of stopping in a small no name place like Bangor. I guess it was just nice to see a familier face... and we did manage to have some fun!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T2vLtyp1vE0/TcPOqn7esuI/AAAAAAAAAGs/V-CUiLt4cng/s1600/DSC04989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T2vLtyp1vE0/TcPOqn7esuI/AAAAAAAAAGs/V-CUiLt4cng/s320/DSC04989.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>So Tuesday we wandered around Bangor. I showed him all of the things that makes Bangor great! We started by walking past Hogwarts (aka the main arts building). He had just come from Oxford and said it felt very Oxfordy.... I believe that is where the inspiration came from! Then we went up to Roman Camp and as many times as I've been up there, I think it was the best view ever. He was really in for a treat! After that we had to go walk down the pier, too bad the shop wasn't open for scones! &nbsp;Oh well, at least we enjoyed the beautiful weather! After that we headed to Yates for some delicious food! Riley met us down there since we eventually had to go to Tecwyn's class anyways. Normally, Tecwyn's class is on Monday nights but because this Monday was a public holiday, he had to move it to Tuesday. Bad timing but it worked out. Frank stayed at the pub while we went to class. After class we met him at Yellow Pub because on Tuesday nights, the special is pound a pint! Can't get much better than that AND the soccor match between Barcelona and Madrid was on so we enjoyed watching that. Eventually, we headed up the hill to Patty's! Just like Yellow, Patty's has drink specials on Tuesday nights! We all had a really good time giving Frank and great Bangor welcome and I think he enjoyed himself too! Bangor may not be as amazing as some of the other big Cities he visited but we gave it our best!<br /><br />Wednesday morning I had a field trip, so Frank got to sleep off the night before while I played in the woodland. It was a really pointless&nbsp;field trip&nbsp;where we had to classify the&nbsp;vegetation&nbsp;at the Treborth Botanical gardens. No one really knew what they were doing so we basically made stuff up! I did get to work with some cool people and the gardens were really beautiful, but that was about the only cool thing about it! After I got back to Bangor Frank and I had a quick lunch and then headed to Caenarfon for the afternoon. We played around in the castle for a couple of hours and I actually got to see everything the castle had to offer for the first time out of the 3 times I had been there. After returning to Bangor we took a nap and then headed out for Fish and Chips! The rest of the night we just kind of took it easy and enjoyed a film and cards. Nice and easy night compared to the night before!<br /><br />The next morning Frank headed to Dublin for the last leg of his amazing journey while I headed out to Outdoor Pursuits. I had a great time with Frank and I'm glad he found time to stop in!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-6390530493753937262011-04-30T17:18:00.001+01:002011-04-30T17:19:37.241+01:00That's what Royalty is made of!Words cannot quite describe the events of the royal wedding but I will do my best to describe my experiences in London. Lets start from the beginning. We arrived back in Bangor from Dublin a little after 5 on Thursday afternoon. That gave me just enough time to unpack, repack, take a shower and head out. The train ride was uneventful and all went as planned for the most part. We didn't miss our connecting train which is always good but it was running behind because it got behind a sleeper train, so we didn't end up getting into Euston until after 2AM. The minute we stepped off the train you could just tell there was something in the air in London. There were 2 police officers just outside the train and the people were just humming. I had my tourist map from the first time I went to London and Sheilagh printed off some walking directions. I have a fairly good sense of directions so we were in pretty good shape. As we wandered closer and closer to where the action would be taking place the people just kept getting more and more. They were everywhere and it was 2 in the morning. I couldn't believe the amount of people. As we got closer to Trafalgar Square there were Union Jack flags flying in abundance. The town was decorated to the 9s.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GiA6u9OUMCs/TbwovB8qtMI/AAAAAAAAAGM/BP_ItWNFVOQ/s1600/DSC04873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GiA6u9OUMCs/TbwovB8qtMI/AAAAAAAAAGM/BP_ItWNFVOQ/s200/DSC04873.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>Once we found Trafalgar Square it was smooth sailing. We walked down The Mall which was the main road where the procession would travel from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and back again. We didn't care all that much where we ended up sitting for the night and as we walked down The Mall the people and tents just kept growing. The people and tents were everywhere lining both sides of the street. We kept making our way towards the palace and eventually came to a section right in front of the left side of the palace. We knew this would be prime real estate when it came time for the kiss from the balcony so we called it good enough. We never dreamed we would find a place that close to the palace that late in the game but we did. I had brought a blanket with so we&nbsp;laid&nbsp;it out and decided to try and catch some shut eye. That was easier said than done. We had been traveling since 10 that morning from Ireland so we should have been tired but the air was just buzzing with excitement from everyone. We sat there and talked for awhile about how surreal it all was and just enjoyed the crowed. Most people were sleeping but there was a constan flow of people into the area. After a quick bathroom break at 4:30 I think we fell asleep for a few minutes.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0-3fVBsarcs/TbwtpnKM0VI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/3e8mL6LGoKU/s1600/DSC04893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0-3fVBsarcs/TbwtpnKM0VI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/3e8mL6LGoKU/s200/DSC04893.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>By 5AM everyone was starting to stir. The sun was just starting to make an appearance as most of the tents and lawn chairs were put away for the day. We slowly but surely inched our way closer and closer to the barricades as people packed their stuff up. We ended up being about 5 people away from the barricades... I never in a million years would have thought we would have ended up that close when there were that many people there before us. That spot ended up being our spot for the next 8 or 9 hours. There were a couple of groups in front of us that hadn't taken down their tents but eventually were asked by the police to pack up their stuff. So we eventually got a little closer. We were all packed in like&nbsp;sardines with no room to move. By about 8 I decided I needed to use the toilets so I, as&nbsp;politely&nbsp;as I could, pushed my way back through the crowed. They were much more willing to let me out than they were letting me come back in. I had to stand in line for 20 minutes just to use a port-o-potty that had no TP... that was fun. I was going to go look for a coffee shop but I decided against it since then I would have to pee again. Instead I pushed my way back through the crowed to Sheilagh who was holding down our blanket. We would take turns sitting down for a few minutes at a time because there was really no room to sit but it was very hard to stand for that long. We mingled with the people standing around us and everyone was really nice for the most part. Then there were some people who just absolutely "knew it all" about the royal family and what was going down that day. They were the ones that got annoying after awhile. The British pride was everywhere to be seen. Most people had flags, some had their faces painted and some were dressed from head to toe in the Union Jack flag. It was a pretty cool site to see.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X5vyU3NUoYQ/TbwwlVS5m8I/AAAAAAAAAGU/OESzb4zBxVY/s1600/DSC04915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X5vyU3NUoYQ/TbwwlVS5m8I/AAAAAAAAAGU/OESzb4zBxVY/s200/DSC04915.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Queen</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tXczzjUsHq8/TbwwsjX3hbI/AAAAAAAAAGY/PFSUm42Z9ns/s1600/DSC04917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tXczzjUsHq8/TbwwsjX3hbI/AAAAAAAAAGY/PFSUm42Z9ns/s200/DSC04917.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bridesmaids</td></tr></tbody></table>From about 9AM on there was movement around the palace. Guards started doing their thing and royal looking cars were moving around. Nothing really big happened until about 10:40 when the Queen left the palace for Westminster. It was one of the coolest feelings watching the crowed&nbsp;erupt as her car pulled out of the palace. She had on yellow that could be spotted a mile away. Even though we were on the other side of Queen Victoria Memorial we could see her through the car windows quite clearly. Before that we knew Prince William had left for Westminster because of the uproar down the street. He left from a different spot and he was actually the only one that didn't go past us. Along with the Queen we saw Cate's parents in the own car, we saw Prince Charles and Camilla come from the palace. We also so Cate's sister with the&nbsp;miniature&nbsp;bridesmaids&nbsp;and at about 10:52 we even saw Cate pass right in front of us! The people who knew the area that were sitting around us said her hotel was in the area and she would have to pass by to get to Westminster, so we knew she was coming. I dropped the ball when it came to a picture of her. I got the before and after shot but I missed the money shot, but it will forever be ingrained in my memory. Probably the coolest thing that happened the whole day. She was so close I could make out ever facial feature, absolutely amazing!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H5jDfO_Qa10/TbwyUd9_CRI/AAAAAAAAAGg/hhkg4eTBP_A/s1600/DSC04935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H5jDfO_Qa10/TbwyUd9_CRI/AAAAAAAAAGg/hhkg4eTBP_A/s200/DSC04935.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The newlyweds</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sncSk25aTBY/Tbwxp9vXxRI/AAAAAAAAAGc/05mLVT8QWiY/s1600/DSC04938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sncSk25aTBY/Tbwxp9vXxRI/AAAAAAAAAGc/05mLVT8QWiY/s200/DSC04938.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cate's sister and Bridemaids</td></tr></tbody></table>The service was&nbsp;broadcasted so we heard the vows and eventually everyone made their way back to the palace. Seeing Prince William and the new Princess Cate in the&nbsp;fairytale&nbsp;carriage&nbsp;was also one of the greatest&nbsp;experiences&nbsp;of the journey. They were right there in front of us and they were so happy. It made it feel so much better because you could just feel how happy they were. The smiles on their faces were just priceless. After everyone, and I mean everyone, was back in the palace the crowed was allowed to walk up to the palace. All of the guests where brought back to the palace via buses and cars, it was very cool. The crowed was brought forward from the end of The Mall and they were walked their by a wall of police. This was to keep the crowed from getting too crazy and it was amazing to see. It also kind of sucked that the people who probably gathered in at the last second got to pile into the area closest to the palace while we had to stay further back. We still had a great place and got to see everything so I can't really complain. Like clockwork the newlyweds and the rest of the family came out on the balcony right at 1:25 like scheduled. I think they even managed to steal 3 kisses. The crowed was in an uproar and everyone was so happy. I was so glad I could share this amazing day with the millions of other people in London.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mnWGqpQ6XaE/Tbwzy2z_szI/AAAAAAAAAGk/J71gi6DatrY/s1600/DSC04959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mnWGqpQ6XaE/Tbwzy2z_szI/AAAAAAAAAGk/J71gi6DatrY/s200/DSC04959.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The crowed being ushered in</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a15Q6qAKRbU/Tbwz8rQHd_I/AAAAAAAAAGo/ZWBNmtL16aQ/s1600/DSC04974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a15Q6qAKRbU/Tbwz8rQHd_I/AAAAAAAAAGo/ZWBNmtL16aQ/s200/DSC04974.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The happy family</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />After it was all said and done we slowly made our way away from the palace. There was only one way we were allowed to go and we eventually ended up down by Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster. I can't imagine what it was like down in that area for the wedding because there is nowhere to go. The people where everywhere, we just couldn't escape them. Eventually, once we got past Trafalgar Square we found a cute little pub where we sat and relaxed and enjoyed some food. We got to see the whole event over and over on TV and it was so surreal seeing it happen on TV. They were such a cute couple, perfect for each other. I hope they live long and happy lives together and again I'm so glad I had the opportunity to share this special day with them! We eventually made our way back to Euston station, avoiding the underground at all costs. If it was as crazy in the underground as it was on the streets there was so way we were going anywhere near it, even if it was faster. We tried to get on an earlier train home but because we bought te cheapest tickets ever, we had to stay with the trains we paid for. Our train didn't leave until 11:30 that night with a 4 hour lay over in Woverhampton. I did manage to sleep for a few minutes off and on but I was so paranoid we would miss our stop, I tried to stay awake. Once in Woverhampton I found a spot on the floor of the lounge and made myself as comphy as I could. I used my blanket that had seen better days as a pillow and caught a few shut eyes. Again i was paranoid that we would miss our 5:48 departure for Bangor so I still didn't get much sleep. Once on our last train home I was able to sleep a little bit better. After Sheilagh and I arrived back in Bangor we talked about how surreal the whole experience was. We were actually in London for the biggest wedding of our life time. So hard to believe, we were so lucky! This was by far the best experience, as exhausting as it was, of my study abroad experience so far! I'm so lucky!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amy<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-61990456783723086672011-04-28T08:30:00.000+01:002011-04-28T08:30:33.867+01:00Holy sh*t that's AMAZING!So just a quick reference to the title of this blog before I really get into it. It is in reference to the cliffs in on the west coast of Ireland. They are so amazing; pictures don't do them justice and there just aren't words that describe them just right. But anyways, back to the beginning. On Monday (the 25th) We packed up our stuff in Dublin. It was sad to go, Dublin was such an amazing city! We had to be out of our rooms by 10 but we weren't leaving until 12 so we had a bit of time to waste. After another amazing breakfast a few of us headed out into the city one last time. We wandered around for awhile playing the "nose goes" game. Eventually we ended up at &nbsp;coffee shop where we shared OP stories and spring break adventures. It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend our last morning in Dublin. At noon we loaded the bus and headed West.<br /><br />After arriving in Galway we went over a list or "rules" for the hostel. We were staying in a very very nice hostel that was very strict. They had a kitchen we could use at our own&nbsp;leisure&nbsp;but we had to follow rules to a T. There was&nbsp;absolutely&nbsp;no drinking allowed, no one was allowed in the kitchen from 10-12 in the morning and then from midnight to 7:30, we had to quite at all times in the bed room and blah blah blah. I guess they wanted to keep it nice. So we tried our best to follow the rules.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QCEwlX-Snpw/TbkW2y7xvqI/AAAAAAAAAF4/jTYCdlzvb6I/s1600/DSC04743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QCEwlX-Snpw/TbkW2y7xvqI/AAAAAAAAAF4/jTYCdlzvb6I/s200/DSC04743.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e3EwLLeFASs/TbkWzVQ26-I/AAAAAAAAAF0/QWVyJr8SH08/s1600/DSC04733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e3EwLLeFASs/TbkWzVQ26-I/AAAAAAAAAF0/QWVyJr8SH08/s200/DSC04733.JPG" width="150" /></a>After we got all settled in we went for a short walk around the city. We went through a beautiful catholic&nbsp;cathedral &nbsp;It is nice for a change to be somewhere where the primary&nbsp;region&nbsp;is that of my own. When I grew up EVERYONE I knew was catholic so being somewhere where no one is catholic is still hard to grip sometimes. The cathedral was so beautiful and huge, I really enjoyed it. After the cathedral we headed down to the bay. Galway used to be a big fishing community so the bay area is really developed and really beautiful. At this point Tecwyn did his normal thing and ditched us expecting us to be able to make our way back to the hostel on our own. We headed up a very touristy street with tons of shopping ad eating places. Eventually we did manage to make our way back. We decided to take advantage of the kitchen and cooked... if you can call it cooking. We ended up with a huge box of chicken nuggets and salad for dinner. It was cheap and it was delicious! That night Sheilagh and I decided we wanted to explore the pub life so we headed out. We found a cute little pub called Taffee's that had live Irish music wafting out of the front door. We decided to give it a try. There was a cute little band playing right in the front. I got myself a delicious pint of Guiness and Sheilagh went with the cider. Eventually the music ended and we were able to snag some stools at the bar. This is where we stayed parked for the next few hours. We met some cool people and were in awe of the bar tenders and how they were able to serve a million people without losing it. Eventually more live music started that was really enjoyable. After spending way too much money (because the drinks were super expensive) we called it a night and stumbled back to the hostel.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9rBVY2Zaof8/TbkW95mOBiI/AAAAAAAAAGA/j0rWsfdkfWs/s1600/DSC04791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9rBVY2Zaof8/TbkW95mOBiI/AAAAAAAAAGA/j0rWsfdkfWs/s200/DSC04791.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v356OHnET-0/TbkW6VhtenI/AAAAAAAAAF8/UwgsqcuOD8w/s1600/DSC04785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v356OHnET-0/TbkW6VhtenI/AAAAAAAAAF8/UwgsqcuOD8w/s200/DSC04785.JPG" width="200" /></a>The next day we headed to the Aran islands for a bike tour of the island. It took an hour bus ride to get to a place where we could hop the ferry and another 45 minute ride to the island. The boat ride was pretty tipsy, at times I thought we were going in. The Aran islands are a very remote place and it was kind of like going back in time. We got our bikes and we headed off.Our goal for the day was to get to Dun Aengus which are cliffs that are over 300 feet high. They were very very intimidating! We were told the best way to approach them was on your stomach so you don't get dizzy and fall off. That was exactly what we did and it was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. The vertigo was so intense, just looking over the edge I thought I was going to fall. I did get the courage for like 2 seconds to hang my legs over the edge but I couldn't get myself to look over very far in that position. Some people were crazy and set of this little rock that was sticking off the edge. It looked like it was going to break off and crumble down the cliff, but they all managed to stay alive. After the cliffs we wandered around on the bikes for awhile. We came to a beach where we took our shoes off and put our toes in. The water was freeing but so beautiful. It was also the strangest beach I have ever seen. It had the softest grey sand that looked just like cat litter. After that we made our way to another part of the coast where we could see some seals playing around in the water. We were hoping they would come beach themselves but they stayed out in the water. After arriving back in Galway we decided we were too lazy to cook so we went out to eat. We ended up in an amazing pub where everyone enjoyed some of the best food we have had since beig abroad. I had chicken pot pie and then a caramel/chocolate cheesecake for dessert. By the time we were done eating I was so full I thought I would need to be rolled home. It was soooooo good!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P8iR-26nOdc/TbkXFEFe0uI/AAAAAAAAAGI/9NLB9HCIAuI/s1600/DSC04848.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P8iR-26nOdc/TbkXFEFe0uI/AAAAAAAAAGI/9NLB9HCIAuI/s200/DSC04848.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UedeH3Fpwr8/TbkXBlAjZYI/AAAAAAAAAGE/-rwem8imieM/s1600/DSC04830.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UedeH3Fpwr8/TbkXBlAjZYI/AAAAAAAAAGE/-rwem8imieM/s200/DSC04830.JPG" width="200" /></a>The next day (Wed the 27th) our destination was the cliffs of Moher. This cliffs are probably the most iconic tourist stop in Ireland. No one travels on the west coast of Ireland without stopping at these cliffs. They were over twice as tall as the ones on the Aran islands but they were all fenced off. Apparently they are also a place where&nbsp;suicide&nbsp;is very popular so they had to fence them all off... well almost all of them. There was a spot where we could climb through the fence and walk to a place where we could really enjoy the cliffs. Of course we had to bend the rules a bit, but we were just doing what everyone else was doing. I thought the cliffs from the day before were intense but these left me speechless. I was so scared and I was walking around with people who were fearless. Grant even posed for a picture with one foot on the edge of the cliff and the other one raised over the edge looking like he was walking right off. I couldn't even watch it was so scary. We did a few jumping pictures that turned out really cool. Some people were jumping right on the edge making it look like they were jumping right off but I stayed far enough back that there was no way I had any chance of going over. Quite intense! Another cool fact about the cliffs of Moher, the cave scene in the latest Harry Potter movie was actually filmed at the cliffs! Pretty cool! After an intense day at the cliffs we needed a nice relaxing night. A bunch of us cooked together and then headed back down to the bay to watch the sun set. It was absolutely breath taking. I am a little jaded after living in Florida and seeing 500 million sun sets they just don't trip my trigger like most. But this one was pretty cool just because we were in Ireland.<br /><br />Today we are heading back to Bangor and then as most of you know a few of us are heading to the big wedding. It is going to be crazy beautiful and the next time I really get to sleep will be in about 48 hours from now. I cringe to think that I won't have a bed for the next two nights but it will be sooo worth it. It is an opportunity of a lifetime that I'm glad is not passing me by. I think the hum of the city is going to be just amazing. After we get back to Bangor I will have some catching up on school work to do. And then on Tuesday and Wednesday and good friend from home, who has been backpacking all over Europe, is coming to visit me! I'm super excited to see him so hopefully I can get everything done before he gets here. So I will try to do my best but it might be awhile before I get a chance to post another blog. Look for me on TV, I have a shirt that says "Marry me instead" that I am wearing to the wedding. I will wave!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-26237336271175085212011-04-25T00:42:00.000+01:002011-04-25T00:42:10.523+01:00The Rocky Road to Dublin!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mOZDNxmYqQ/TbSvikk3wuI/AAAAAAAAAFc/dqm6VLBHKD8/s1600/DSC04611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mOZDNxmYqQ/TbSvikk3wuI/AAAAAAAAAFc/dqm6VLBHKD8/s200/DSC04611.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So on Saturday we spent the morning crossing the Irish Sea from Hollyhead to Dublin. It was a fairly uneventful trip but the ferry was pretty cool. I had never been on a ferry before so it absolutely amazed me that you could put that many cars on a boat and it would still float across the water. It moved super fast too! We made it across in just under 2 hours. On the inside it was&nbsp;extremely&nbsp;crowded and we were lucky to get a seat. I passed the time with my kindle and my iPod because there were about 500 screaming kids on the ferry with us. I love kids but these kids were just completely out of control! We even ventured out onto the deck to take a peak at the fast approaching Ireland. The deck was so windy I ended up with more of an afro than I already have! Ireland looked beautiful from the boat, I couldn't wait to step foot on land and enjoy it for all of its beauty. Once we made land we had to board a city bus to take us semi close to our hostel. I think they jammed about 500 people on the double decker bus because there was no room to move with all of us AND our luggage. A short ride later and we were smack dab in the middle of Dublin. The hostel we stayed in was pretty sweet! There were 6 of us girls staying together in a room with 8 beds (all to ourselves). We had our own bath room and shower in the room so we also didnt have to share that with anyone else.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMtDtKrJaos/TbSyAHIde1I/AAAAAAAAAFk/EOo3KLyXLJA/s1600/DSC04641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMtDtKrJaos/TbSyAHIde1I/AAAAAAAAAFk/EOo3KLyXLJA/s200/DSC04641.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance&nbsp;to Trinity College</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">After we got all settled in we headed out into the city with Tecwyn for a walking tour. We went through the city center which was super cool and we walked down O'Donnell street which is a very touristy street. Our walking tour ended at Trinity College which is a very iconic college of Dublin. At the college is the Book of Kells exhibition which was also very unique. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of the 4 gospels written in 800AD in Latin. The exhibition ended in the Great Library which holds thousands of books, none of which date later than 1700. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.&nbsp;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8oJIZ-8YmI/TbSv5luc_eI/AAAAAAAAAFg/cumstbqVWTs/s1600/DSC04630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C8oJIZ-8YmI/TbSv5luc_eI/AAAAAAAAAFg/cumstbqVWTs/s200/DSC04630.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">At that point, Tecwyn did his normal thing of ditching us. He likes to lead us into the middle of a strange town and then just leave us there for us to find our own way back. I think he has it in for us... haha! Anyways, we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon and night so a few of us decided to just walk around and explore the city. We ended up in the Temple Bar area which is a bunch of local pubs and&nbsp;resaturates, most of which have live music. There are also a bunch of souvenir shops and other shops; very easy to waste an afternoon in this part of town. We checked out a few of the souvenir shops and then ended up in this cute little pub that had amazing food and even better live music. We enjoyed the food upstairs with the music playing below us. This one man band did covers of everything from Bon Jovi to Van Morrison and so much more. The place was packed of people having a grand old time and it was only like 6 in the afternoon! We enjoyed our 5 euro drinks (SUPER EXPENSIVE!!! that would be like $8) and then headed back to the hostel. We debated whether we wanted to go out to another pub for live traditional Irish music or if we just wanted to stay in. We ended up going to get a few drinks to have at the hostel and we watched Aladdin. While watching Aladdin we turned it into a drinking game where you had to drink every time the words Genie, Lamp, Wish, Prince or Princess was said. It was super fun!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">On Sunday our plan was to go to the 8:30 Easter mass at a beautiful cathedral just down the street. Tecwyn told us the mass was at 8:30 but when we got there we saw the gates were padlocked shut and the mass wasn't until 10. We were all pretty bummed since we all got up extra early to make it to mass before the events for the day started. Oh well! After we started walking back to the hostel we heard a marching band playing down the street so we went to check it out. There was going to be a parade later in the day in honor of the Irish revolts against the British on Easter; this eventually led to Ireland's independence from the rest of the UK.&nbsp;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fOyJHzRWfhs/TbSyx-LEk5I/AAAAAAAAAFs/G0iiwRqb_kY/s1600/DSC04708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fOyJHzRWfhs/TbSyx-LEk5I/AAAAAAAAAFs/G0iiwRqb_kY/s200/DSC04708.JPG" width="200" /></a><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-54vU83j-jbE/TbSychTwSOI/AAAAAAAAAFo/G2HtwWJUYeQ/s1600/DSC04677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-54vU83j-jbE/TbSychTwSOI/AAAAAAAAAFo/G2HtwWJUYeQ/s200/DSC04677.JPG" width="200" /></a>Once our day&nbsp;officially&nbsp;started we did another walking tour of the city. We went through Trinity College again and we also went through some beautiful parks and learned all sorts of informational stuff! We saw the Irish&nbsp;Parliament&nbsp;building and a couple of Protestant cathedrals including St. Patrick's. The walking tour ended with the Guiness Factory tour. I had never had Guinees before coming to the UK and I wasn't huge on it the first time I had it but I didn't give up. If you have never had or seen this beer before, it is very unique. This beer is thick and creamy and black! I can't describe exactly what it tastes like; you just have to try it for yourself. The more I drink it the more I love it. I thought it was good over in the UK and then yesterday I had one in Ireland. It was so fresh and so delicious I thought it couldn't get any better, I was wrong. At the end of the brewery tour you got a pint of Guiness fresh from the brewery. It was so amazing! It was well worth the 11 euro :o) The tour itself wasn't that cool because you didn't get to see any of the actual working factory; everything you got to see was made especially just for the tour. None the less it was still interesting to learn about how it all works. The brewery is way out in the middle of nowhere and of course Tecwyn did his usual thing of stranding us. We did what we thought best and that was take a horse and buggy ride back into the Temple Bar area, again well worth the 20 euro we split between the 4 of us.&nbsp;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owCNUACG6ME/TbS0vscZUeI/AAAAAAAAAFw/9s8Y51gu3aE/s1600/DSC04716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owCNUACG6ME/TbS0vscZUeI/AAAAAAAAAFw/9s8Y51gu3aE/s200/DSC04716.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Because we missed church that morning we decided we would go to the 6:30 mass. We still had a couple of hours to spare so we came back and took a nap. The mass was your typical catholic service and the church itself was very beautiful. It was a similar set up to the one we went to in Scotland but it wasn't as elaborately decorated. After mass I called home to Gram's. Everyone was there to celebrate Easter and I got to talk to most everyone. It was nice to talk to some of the kids and Gram. She still thinks it is amazing how I can call home from Ireland via my computer. She doesn't really get it but its ok. Since we didn't hit up the traditional Irish music the night before we decided to hit it up that night. Around 9 we made our was to The Celt. We&nbsp;sandwiched&nbsp;ourselves into a few chairs on the side of the "stage" and waited for the band to start. They were pretty awesome and a few people even did some Irish dancing. You could tell it was a pub that was mostly visited by the locals. They were all having a great time and we didn't want to invest too much money into the drinks so we only stayed for a few songs.&nbsp;</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Tomorrow (Monday) we head to the west coast of Ireland to Galway. I'm really excited to see more of the&nbsp;country&nbsp;side and especially the cliffs. The city has been beautiful but I know Ireland has more to offer than just the city!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Until next time...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">~Amy</div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-68274355190356900982011-04-22T19:09:00.000+01:002011-04-22T19:09:56.083+01:00Quick UpdateNothing too exciting to report for the past week. The weather here in Bangor has been absolutely beautiful so I have been taking advantage as much as possible. I climbed Snowdon for the second time on Monday. Rachel and I did it in record time! We were up and down in 4 and a half hours! I thought I was going to die but it was all good. I have also been running (or trying to) most days. My goal is to run the Bix 7 this summer down in Davenport so I need to keep training! I would say I can run about half of it as of right now. We have also been spending time up at Roman camp just laying out. The sun has been shining all week so I have been soaking it up! Not enough to get a tan but enough to enjoy. I have also been trying to be studious! I am close to having all of my papers written that are due on May 6th. I think I have given up for now though! Last night we had a Scream marathon (watched all 3 of them) and today we went to the cinema to see the 4th! If you like the Scream movies you must go see the 4th. It was excellent! I was really impressed. Tomorrow our study abroad group heads to Ireland for 6 days! I'm super excited. It should be great! I won't have my computer so you guys will have to wait for the blogs. As many of you probably know, there is a huge event here in the UK on the 29th. The big royal wedding is that day and a few of us will be heading to London for the big event. We get back from Ireland around 5 on the 28th and we leave for London at 8 that night! We will be pulling an all nighter and partying it up in the streets of London since we don't actually get in until 1:14. I figure there will be people lining the streets by that time anyways. So the next week will be quite the adventure! Stay tuned and I will try to update you guys when I have a chance!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-62356510004736012932011-04-17T16:20:00.001+01:002011-04-17T16:21:56.566+01:00Just for fun, I'm bored...<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>1. Real name : Amy Marie Dupont</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>2. Nickname(s) : don't really have one</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>3. Zodiac Sign : Cancer</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>4. Male or female : Female</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>5. Elementary School : Balltown Sherrill Catholic School</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>6. Middle School : RHCL</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>7. High School : Wahlert</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>8. College : St. Ambrose/Bangor University</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>9. Hair Color : Brownish</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>10. Tall or Short: 5'8</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>11. Sweats or Jeans : Jeans</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>12. Phone or Camera : Camera</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>13. Health freak : not a freak, but aware</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>14. Orange or Apple : either</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>15. Do you have a crush on someone: no</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>16. Eat or Drink : eat</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>17. Piercings : a few in my ears</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>18. pepsi or coke: neither</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>HAVE YOU EVER?</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>19. Been in an airplane : yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>20. Been in a relationship : Yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>21. Been in a car accident : Yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>22. Been in a fist fight : No</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>23. First piercing : ears</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>24. best friend : Ashley</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>25. First award : Digger award in Volleyball maybe?</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>26. First crush : oh I don't remember</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>27. First word : probably daddy</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>29. Last person you talked to: mom</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>30. Last person you texted : Sheilagh</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>31. Last TV show you watched: Veronica Mars</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>32. Last thing you ate: Ben and Jerry's half baked ice cream :)</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>33. Last movie you watched: Inception</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>34. Last song you listened to: I'd do anything</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>35. Last thing you bought: groceries</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>36. Last person you hugged : I dont remember who was last but my family that came to visit</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><br /></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>FAVE:&nbsp;</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>37. Food : Chinese food</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>38. Drink: Dr. Water</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>39. Bottoms : Jeans</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>40. Flower : Not a flower fan</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>41. Animal : Cat</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>42. Color : Pink</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>43. Movie : Pirates</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>44. Subject : this semester... Hollywood probably</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><br /></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>HAVE YOU EVER:</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>(Put an X in the brackets if yes)</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>45. [x] Fallen in love with someone.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>46. [x] Celebrated Halloween.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>47. [x] had your heart broken...</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>48. [x] went over the minutes/texts on your cell phone.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>49. [x] had someone like you</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>51. [] got pregnant.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>52. [] had an abortion.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>53. [x] did something you regret.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>54. [x] broke a promise.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>55. [x] hid a secret.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>56. [X] pretended to be happy.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>57. [x] met someone who changed your life.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>58. [x] pretended to be sick.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>59. [x] left the country.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>60. [x] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>61. [x] cried over the silliest thing.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>62. [x] ran a mile.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>63. [x] went to the beach with your best friend.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>64. [x] got into an argument with your friends.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>65. [x] disliked someone.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>66. [x] stayed single for 2 years since the first time you had a boyfriend/girlfriend</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>CURRENTLY:</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>67. Eating : Nothing.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>68. Drinking : Nothing.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>69. Listening : Teenage Dream</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>70. Sitting/Laying : Sitting</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>71. Plans for tomorrow: Climb Snowdon if it is as nice as it is today, if not, writing papers</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>72. Waiting for : Melissa to see if she still wants to go for a walk</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><br /></strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>YOUR FUTURE:</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>73. Want kids : more than anything</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>74. Want to get married : i suppose</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>75. Career : PA</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>76. Lips or eyes : eyes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>77. Shorter or Taller : Taller</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>78. Romantic or spontaneous : Spontaneous</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>81. Hook-up or relationship : Relationship.</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>82. Looks or personality : Personallity</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>HAVE YOU EVER:&nbsp;</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>83. Lost glasses/contacts : probably</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>84. Snuck out of a house : yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>85. Held a gun/knife for self defense : No</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>86. Killed somebody : No</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>87. Broken someone's heart : probably</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>88. Been in love : I thought so...</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>89. Cried when someone died : Yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>DO YOU BELIEVE IN:</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>90. Yourself : &nbsp;mostly</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>91. Miracles : yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>92. Love at first sight : no</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>93. Heaven : Yes</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>94. Santa Clause : of course :)</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>95. Aliens : No</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>96. Ghosts : no</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>TRUTHFULLY:</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>97. Is there one person you really want to be with right now : there are many people, not just one</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>98. Do you know who your real friends are : yeah i think so</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>99. Do you believe in God : i think so</strong></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong>100. Post as 100 truths : Yes</strong></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-53291633251320273852011-04-15T19:05:00.000+01:002011-04-15T19:05:38.836+01:00Continued Travels in Scotland, Saying Good-Bye and Traveling Home<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">I am currently sitting on a train from Glasgow to London (but I'm not going to London, I have to switch before the train goes that far). I will talk more about my travels home a little later. Before I get to that, I should pick up where I left off on the last blog. I stopped after our Catholic mass experience on Sunday the 10<sup>th</sup> and it is now Friday the 15<sup>th</sup>. A lot has happened since then! We have just been so busy and had so much fun that I haven’t had a chance to blog. We also haven’t had any internet connections on our travels through Scotland so I wasn’t really motivated to type anything up. I guess I shouldn’t say we didn’t have internet access, we did, but we had to pay extra for it. Now, I’m sitting on a train with all the time in the world so I thought I would reflect a little bit on my time with my family.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">So, mass on Sunday was very cool and the church was amazing. After mass we still had a couple of hours before our tour officially started so some of us wandered around Glasgow. Our hotel was right in the center of town and close to everything we could possibly need. We found a pedestrian shopping strip so we had a walk around. Guess what we found? My favorite store over here in the UK… Primark! I have shopped in this store a few times now and I just love it. They have super cheap clothes and shoes and more and it is all so cute! It is probably a good thing there isn’t one in Bangor or I would have bought one of everything by now. Anyways, we shopped for awhile and then at 2:30 we loaded our tour bus for the first of many times. We were going for a guided bus ride though the town. Barbra was our awesome tour guide and Jim was our awesome driver. Jim had a really thick Scottish accent so that was fun! Dad always got a kick out of how he always called him Peter with the accent (Pee – Ta). So for the next couple of hours we drove around the city and saw everything from the three universities, the BBC, a bunch of parks, cathedrals and everything else Glasgow had to offer. We also stopped at one of the museums. I’m not huge on museums but this one had a HUGE organ in it and it was being played the whole time. I simply sat up on the balcony and watched the man play this massive instrument that made music that went right through you as he played. It was just amazing! There were cameras on his hands and feet so you could watch him play 3 levels of keys with his hand and a set with his feet. There were also numerous knobs on the organ that he could constantly be pulling in and pushing out. What a magnificent instrument; I couldn’t imagine how long it took him to learn to play like that! That night we enjoyed a drink in the hotel bar that was compliments of the tour and then we enjoyed the first of 3 very formal dinners. After dinner we decided to have our own party in our rooms. We had stocked up on some beer and wine earlier in the day so we did some drinking and played some euchre. This ended up being a tradition for every night<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The next morning (Monday the 11<sup>th</sup>) we had to have our luggage in the hall and be down to breakfast by 7 to be ready for a departure at 8. We enjoyed yet another full Brit breakfast! There was more food then I knew what to do with, but it was so yummy! Soon enough we were all loaded back onto the bus. We were informed the day before that the tour requires the seats to be rotated so we had to check the sheet before we got on to see where we were assigned to sit that day. Our group was in the first four rows on the left side of the bus; prime real estate for sightseeing. We also found out that the tour we were on was continuing on to Ireland after the Scotland tour and since we were not going to Ireland we would have the front of the bus rotation first <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>. Our journey to the highlands involved lots of history of the kings and queens of years past in Scotland. We made a lot of random stops but most of the day consisted of driving. There were a couple of highlights such as driving along the lochs (including Loch Ness). I even got Nessie to poke her head up for a photo shoot ;o). We also stopped at Urquhart&nbsp;castle, which was cool but there were tons of people there and it started to rain. The castle did have an amazing view of Loch Ness where I spotted Nessie. We eventually made our way to Newton hotel for the night which looked more like a castle then a hotel. The hotel was so beautiful! For dinner that night we had a traditional Scottish meal. This included haggis neeps and tatties, (haggis, turnips and potatoes which believe it or not, I ate) Scottish broth soup, a fancy chicken breast main course and a raspberry/pudding/oatmeal dessert. This was the most formal meal I had ever experienced. It took us about 2 hours to get through all the courses and I really enjoyed it. If it was my choice I probably would have skipped the meal but it ended up being great. After our meal we were indulged in traditional Scottish music and dance. This involved to young girls doing some Celtic dancing and a man playing an accordion and another man playing the bagpipes. The dancers were amazing and the old guy playing the bagpipes was amazing (he even wore the kilt and admitted he didn’t wear anything under it!) This was very entertaining and I probably enjoyed this part of the Scottish experience the most. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The next day (Tuesday the 12<sup>th</sup>) started with another traditional breakfast served right to us. The hotel staff was so awesome, I never felt so catered to… I could get used to that! We headed out by 8:30 from the hotel and we were shortly at our first stop for the day. I think most of us could have lived without this stop but some enjoyed it. We went to a battle field where Scotland and England battled in the 18<sup>th</sup> century. There was tons of history behind it and it was cool to see the guns and stuff but we spent way too much time there. Oh well! After that we headed south toward Edinburgh. The day involved a lot of stories from our awesome tour guide accompanied by beautiful landscapes out the bus windows. We made a stop in a small tourist town where we had a delicious lunch and did some shopping. After that we pushed onwards to Edinburgh. The hotel we stayed in for our Edinburgh experience was about 7 miles out of town and it was super ritzy. I don’t know if that is the right word because all of the hotels we stayed in were pretty ritzy, but this one was different. It just had a different feel to it. It was part of the golf and country club and everyone staying there just seemed stuck up, like they were above us. We (as in my family and I) really felt out of place. It really just sucked because we were so secluded from town. Anyways, that night after arriving at the hotel we had a chance to freshen up and then we loaded the bus to go into town for dinner and a walking tour from a real Scotsman. The dinner was the last of the dinners that were included in the tour and yet again it was extremely formal. The restaurant we ate at had an amazing view of Edinburgh castle, which was all lit up after the sun went down. The meal was pretty good and I had cheesecake for dessert which was amazing! There was some confusion about the drinks. We assumed they were included with the meal and were complimentary since they were the two nights before, but we were wrong. All the tables ended up getting drinks but we didn’t realize we had to pay. Some of the people got all the way outside before the waiters tracked them down to pay. It was kind of funny, but how were we supposed to know. They gave us the drink menus to order off of just like our meals so we didn’t think anything of it. After we got everything figured out we were off on a short tour of the old city. Richard, our authentic Scotsman tour guide, told us ghost stories and was extremely entertaining. He made the stories feel real and he was just so into it. Made the tour very interesting; he even told the story of how Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde came to be. After returning to the hotel we enjoyed a drink at the bar and then called it a night. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The next day (Wednesday the 13<sup>th</sup>) we went back into the city with Richard as our guide. We traveled down the royal mile which connected Edinburgh castle to the Holyrood Palace (home to the Queen for at least 1 week every year). We also saw other historic sites in the city and then ended at the castle. Richard gave us a tour of the castle and then we had the rest of the day free. We explored some more in the castle and even saw the Royal Crown and Jewels of Scotland. They were in this highly secured room behind glass that looked like it was about 10 inches thick! They were very cool and of course there were no pictures allowed. After we explored more of the castle, including the dungeon prisons, we were off to explore more of the city on our own. At this point, technically the tour was over but we were still able to take the bus back to the hotel that afternoon. So we wandered around and hit a few pubs and shops. We ended up eating at Hard Rock Café because I have been craving American food. Our waiter was from Canada and he gave us a hard time about being American and eating there. The main highlight of the afternoon was when Steve, Aggie, Mom, Pat and I climbed the Scott Monument. This was a huge steeple looking monument in the middle of the city. It had four levels to climb. All the levels were connected by two-way spiral stair cases that got narrower and narrower as your climbed higher. It was crazy when you met other people going he opposite direction because at some points they were hardly wide enough for one person. For about the last 10 steps or so, I even had to climb sideways just so I would fit. The view from the top was absolutely spectacular! You could see pretty much every inch of the city with Waverly station just below and Edinburgh castle just off in the distance. Words can’t describe and pictures just don’t do it justice. If you ever visit Edinburgh, the Scotts Monument is a must! We had just about an hour before the bus was going to pick us up so we decided to grab some subs and beer to keep us occupied for the night. We drank, we were merry and we played lots and lots of euchre. It was an absolute blast hanging out with my family!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The next day (Thursday 14<sup>th</sup>) was an extra day for us. The rest of the tour was on to Ireland and we had the day to enjoy Scotland. We had a few things picked out that we didn’t get done the day before. Our first adventure for the day was getting back into town. We had to walk from the hotel down to the main road where there was a bus stop. We were instructed to take the 27 or 28 into town and it would take us right to the city center. Seemed easy enough and it was. After we arrived out on the road a bus was there within 5 minutes. It was a huge double-decker bus so of course we had to ride on top! The view from the top was just insane. Every time the bus slowed down for a car in front of it we were sure it was going to run it over. We would peer down the window and there would still be plenty of room in between the bus and the car. It also seemed like the bus was going to take out everything on the left side but it didn’t. It must not have been his first day driving! One of the things we wanted to do that day was go down to the water front and we thought maybe if we stayed on the bus long enough we would end up down there. That didn’t end up being true. After we passed by the city center the bus soon came to a stop near the Scottish government building and it shut down. We figured we better get off. The driver advised us that the number 44 would get us close to the water so we decided we would do that. We had day tickets for “First Bus” so as long as we took one of those buses we wouldn’t have to pay any more. The problem with that was the fact that there are about 10 different bus services circulating around the city. We found the closest bus stop that appeared to be a stop for 44 so we waited there, and we waited and waited. Needless to say we really didn’t know what we were doing and everyone we asked tried explaining it a different way, but the 44 “first bus” was going to be the only one that would get us close to where we wanted to go. Finally it came so we got on. We asked the driver if the bus would take us to the water and he told us eventually it would; that didn’t sound overly promising. As we rode around it seemed like we were going further and further out but eventually the water was close. I asked the driver when we should get off and he said we could get off any time and walk to the water. We were hoping to find a board walk and shops and restaurants but that didn’t seem to happen. However, we did find the water so the girls stuck their toes in it. I didn’t because I had tights on; I survived and they said the water was freezing. I could have told them that before they stuck their toes in. The day was still young so we headed back to the city. Once there, we found a cute little pub to have a drink and lunch at. Aggie even went out on a limb and tried some chicken curry; she said it was great. We were going to do something called the Underground City but we talked to one of the waitresses at the pub and she said it wasn’t worth it. We were unaware that you had to pay to go to this underground city and we thought it was literally like an underground city. The waitress told us it was more like a museum… so much for that. There is a little café in Edinburgh where J.K. Rowling started writing the Harry Potter series so Pat and Aggie and I went to check it out. It really wasn’t anything to see but it was still cool to be where Harry Potter was brought to life. The rest of the afternoon we just kind of walked around and enjoyed the little shops and all the cool architecture. And you ask what we did to entertain ourselves that night at the hotel? Well we played cards of course! It was another great night of friendly cards and drinking. I couldn’t have asked for a better night. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">And now we finally come to today (Friday the 15<sup>th</sup>) which means I’m almost caught up! As I write this I am currently on my third train for the day (I only missed one and it wasn’t even my fault, but I will get to that eventually). This morning was a sad one. After our last full Brit breakfast we were all taxied to the airport. I was told it would be easiest for me to go to the airport and then just take a bus to the railway station. The taxi to the airport was included with the tour so it was just as easy. So after lots of sad goodbyes and hugs I was on my own. I had such a great time with my family it really made it hard to say goodbye. I will be back home with them in less than 2 months but it was still hard. I put on my strong face as I hugged them all but a few tears were shed when I was on the bus back into town. The airbus arrived at Waverly station a few minutes before 8 and I looked at the monitors and saw there was a train leaving at 8 for Glasgow so I scurried to platform 10. Before I could get on the train I was stopped by the ticket people. Sometimes you can buy your ticket after you get on the train and other times you have to buy them before you board; of course this had to be one of those times. I quickly bought my ticket and made the train just before to took off. It was a short ride back to Glasgow and then the fun began. I had looked up my route before we ever left for Scotland so I was pretty sure I needed a train that took me to Warrington Bank Quay (whatever that was). I looked at the monitors and I didn’t see anything that had that name… hummm… now what? I asked the closest guy that looked like he worked there. I asked what plate form for Warrington and he asked me where I was trying to go and then explained I needed to be at the other Glasgow station… great! How do I get there? Well thankfully there was a bus that goes between the two stations and if you have a ticket already for the trains, the bus doesn’t cost anything extra! So I hopped on the train and a few short minutes later I was at Glasgow Central. This was the same station we came into earlier in the week so it at least felt familiar. I looked at the monitors again and still didn’t see anything that said Warrington. However, I did see one to Crew so I thought maybe I would jump on that one since that was the way we came. Instead of jumping right on I asked and I was told I had to have a specific ticket for that train so I needed to take the original route I was looking for. The lady told me it was the train leaving from plate form 2 going to London Euston. I had a few minutes so I paid my 30 pents to use the rest room and then boarded the train. The train ride was just over 2 hours long and as we got closer and closer to London the train got fuller and fuller. I had general tickets which didn’t reserve me an actual seat so eventually I had to get up and stand. That wasn’t too bad since we were only about 15 minutes from where I had to get off, or so I thought. I was supposed to arrive at Warrington at 12:20 and get on a train to Chester at 12:26 and it was 12:21 when I looked at my watch and we still had one stop to go. I was getting really anxious as they announced they were being delayed because of speed restrictions in certain parts of the tracks. Great… it was 12:28 when we finally arrived in Warrington and I asked right away if the train to Chester was gone already and he told me it had pulled out just before we pulled in. Awesome… Oh well, at least there was one every hour so it wasn’t too much longer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Once I was on the train to Chester is was all smooth sailing. I had done that route before so I knew exactly what I was doing. I knew the train I was looking for was Holyhead so there was no guessing. So it took 2 buses, 4 trains and 8 hours for me to get home. I really shouldn’t complain because the rest of the family will be in transit for at least 9 more hours. Right now they should be getting close to the USA. Then they have a 6 hour layover in Chicago before they can get to Dubuque. That would drive me crazy knowing they could drive home in less than 4. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">I’m pretty sure everyone had a great time and I know they were all ready to go home. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye but I was ready to come back and be done traveling for a little bit. They asked me if I was ready to come home and I really don’t think I am. There are a lot of people and things I miss, but I’m not done exploring yet. I know when June 4<sup>th</sup> comes around I will be ready. Until then, I’m going to keep enjoying myself! I have this next week free and there really isn’t anyone around campus. When I got back the parking lot was pretty much disserted, so we will see what kind of trouble I can get into. If the weather is nice I might go climb Snowdon again tomorrow. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Until next time…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">~Amy</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-58715500601280127602011-04-13T23:47:00.000+01:002011-04-13T23:47:30.300+01:00Scotland so far!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">What an amazing time this past week has been spending time with my family. I wish it didn’t have to end and I wish I wouldn’t have gone so fast. I was waiting and waiting for them to get here and I knew it was going to go faster than I wanted it to. Oh well, we had a great time while it lasted. I apologize for not posting more often; I’m sure there were a lot of people who were patiently waiting to hear about our experiences. We were so busy that it was hard to keep up with everything. I tried to write the blog as we went but there was no internet access at the hotels and if there was we had to pay extra to use it for a few minutes. So, I tried to at least type up what we were doing each day, but needless to say, I fell behind. I hope you enjoy the following experiences. They may be a little scrambled because some were written as we traveled and others were written after the fact.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">On Saturday the 9<sup>th</sup> we left Wales and headed north to Scotland. Before we left for the day we did a little last minute exploring of Bangor. The family hadn’t been to the pier yet so we wondered that way. The pier is home to the scones and I couldn’t let the family come to Bangor and not have a scone. The day was one of the most beautiful days I have witnessed since I have been in Wales so they were really in for a treat. The tide has been exceptionally low since the family got here so as we were walking to the end of the pier it seemed like there was no water in the Menai. By the time we walked back from the pier the tide was coming back in. Everyone enjoyed their scone and the oh-so-rare view of the mountains that over shadow Bangor. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">After everyone said their goodbyes to Les we headed for the train station. We were there plenty early because we weren’t sure how busy it was going to be with classes just ending for the three week Easter break. Everyone had to pick up their tickets except me, so I wanted to make sure we would have plenty of time; we did. We sat on the platform for about an hour before our train came. We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and I think I even got some sun on my legs <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">After we got on the train I knew it would be as busy as it was. I have taken the train on a Saturday before and it always seems quite busy, at least between Bangor and Llandudno. The family all had reserved seats but I just had a general ticket. I told them that probably wouldn’t matter but they insisted they would be fine. We got on the train and of course it was packed. They all did manage to find a seat but not the ones that were printed on their ticket. There was really no space for the luggage so we left it sitting near the front of the car. I stayed with the luggage for a few stops but eventually found a seat. We switched trains in Chester and then there was a short ride to Crew. Once we switched in Crew we had about a 6 hour ride to Glasgow. The ride up was very beautiful and so green. I think everyone, including myself, thoroughly enjoyed the ride north and all the beautiful scenery. As we got closer to Glasgow the train got emptier so we enjoyed all the space. Mom, Dad Steve and I even enjoyed some four-handed euchre.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">We arrived in Glasgow around 9 and the town was booming. It appeared we were right in the middle of all the action. There were people wandering the streets having a grand old time. We really didn’t know where the hotel was so we asked around and found out we were not far and it was super easy to get to. Steve and Judy jumped in a taxi while the rest of us took off on foot. Up a small hill (at least compared to the ones in Bangor) and then down another street we soon arrived at the Thistle hotel. Steve and Judy had arrived before us and had us all checked in. We headed to our room and I was in awe! From this point on we were part of the CIE tour of Scotland and I was pretty sure we were in for a treat by the looks of the room. The outside of our door said “Executive Suite”. We opened the door and I was faced with the largest hotel room I had ever been in on a family trip. There were two huge queen beds. a huge flat screen TV, a comphy couch, tables, chairs and more. The only down side was internet was not included. You could buy 90 minutes to be used for a 24 hour period. I found it really hard to believe since the hotel seemed pretty fancy. Oh well. After we got all settled in we went to check out Steve and Judy’s room and Pat and Aggie’s room. They weren’t as lucky as we were because in each of their rooms they had two single beds. The rooms were still nice; they just didn’t get to enjoy the ginormous beds. Needless to say, the party was in our room that night.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Our group actually arrived in Glasgow a day before the tour began so we had some time to enjoy the city. We were going to grab a few beers from a liquor shop across the street from the hotel but as soon as we said that the shop closed. Humm, now what to do? Well the next best thing of course, go to the bar. There was a bar in the hotel so we went down and had a few rounds. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">The next morning (Sunday the 10<sup>th</sup>) we decided to go wandering around town. The tour didn’t officially start until 2:30 that afternoon so we had plenty of time to get into trouble. Before we could find trouble, we found a Catholic church, how convenient! I’ve noticed the Catholic churches are much more common in Scotland. We found out there was a family mass at 10:30, plenty of time for us to enjoy a walk, have some breakfast and then make it in time for church. We wondered around Glasgow from awhile and found some very beautiful architecture. We also found a few churches that were transformed into other things. We also managed to wander into a not so nice part of town but we hightailed it out of there even though we would have been fine since it was so early in the morning. After our walk we went back to the hotel to enjoy a “full Brit” which was a very hearty breakfast. It even included black pudding (aka blood sausage) and haggis (a very traditional Scottish food that I don’t actually want to know what it is but I do know it is cooked in a sheep’s stomach). After we got all ready for the day we went to mass. The church was the most beautiful Catholic church I have ever seen. There were multiple different types and colors of marbles used to decorate the front of the church. There were also beautiful mosaics of the last supper and other religious figures that decorated the church. The mass was a traditional mass; nothing different than we would experience every Sunday back home except for the heavy Scottish accents. We were also lucky enough to experience to the music from the grand organ that was placed high above our heads. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">This is where the blog is going to stop for now. We had internet access tonight for a little bit so I thought I would post what I have so far. The next time I will post will be after I arrive back in Bangor. I have one more day with the family tomorrow in Edinburgh and then the rest of the family will head home on Friday. Sorry there isn’t more, we have been having too much fun for me to sit and blog.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">Until next time…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">~Amy</div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-63300524052740748022011-04-10T20:44:00.000+01:002011-04-10T20:44:25.347+01:00Judy's Honorary Blog<div class="MsoNormal">I asked Judy to to be an honorary author for my blog. I knew it would be kind of boring from my perspective because I have already experienced and written about everything they have done. It took some convincing but she eventually agreed. So, here is her experience from the time they left Iowa until the time we left for Scotland. I will prick up the blog from Scotland on when I have a chance. We have been having so much fun it is hard to get time to sit down and blog. Enjoy!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Amy asked that I write as a guest on her blog giving my impression of our trip to Wales and Scotland so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Where do I begin?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There is so much I could tell you but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum so I don’t bore you all to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It truly has been an adventure to say the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We took off out of Dubuque on a cloudy, dreary Wednesday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. and winged our way to Chicago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Once above the clouds, we hit beautiful sunshine and could look down on puffy white marshmallow clouds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">Since we had a bit of a layover before our flight to Wales, we decided to find something to wet our whistle, so we found a little bar and celebrated the start of our vacation with a nice cold glass of beer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Once our flight was called we got ourselves settled in for the 8-hour ride to Manchester, England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We were served a snack and shortly after, our dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Then it was time to settle in to try to get some sleep, but how do you sleep when you’re not tired yet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Once night settled in, it was a little easier to catch a few winks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I could only doze off and on due to the excitement and anxiousness related to flying because I’m not really a big lover of flying, I’m sorry to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>No sooner had I dozed off, and night quickly turned to day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Even though my watch only said midnight our time, it was actually 5 a.m England time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Believe me though my body was telling me it was only midnight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We touched down at exactly 7:18 a.m. to a very misty, cloudy England day with a temp of only 50 degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now came the fun part!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We had to discover how to get to Amy in Bangor, Wales, by taking the train system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>After some confusion and having a little difficulty understanding the thick English brogue, I finally got proper directions on how to board the train for Bangor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The challenging part though was finding the correct platform for boarding and then having to change trains 3 times before we got there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>With the help of everyone, we soon became ole’ pros at taking the train system and finally arrived in Bangor at 12:30 p.m.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal">What a beautiful, quaint, eclectic little town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It looked like something out of a Hansel and Gretel book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>We began walking in search of The Garth Guest House, which was to be our home for 2 nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We walked and walked and walked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Finally, after about 12 blocks, we found the quaint little bed and breakfast we would be staying in but alas, the proprietor of the property was nowhere to be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>No one answered the doorbell to our dismay as we stood in the mist wondering what to do next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Julie decided to stop next door and see if anyone was home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Since arriving in country we found people to be very helpful in answering any questions we might have so it couldn’t hurt, could it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>An elderly gentleman came to the door and said he knew Les and Rita, our hosts well but did not know where they could be so being the friendly gentleman he was, he quickly invited us in out of the rain for a cup of tea or coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We told him we did not want to impose upon his day, but he insisted we come in out of the rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He proved to be a very nice man and made us immediately feel welcome in his home, serving us coffee and sharing some of his life history, which was quite interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">Finally, our host arrived home and we proceeded to check into our B&amp;B.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Steve and I and Aggie were given a small room on 2<sup>nd</sup> floor with 3 twin beds in it, while Pat was given her own room, and Pete and Julie were given theirs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Fortunately, we picked a room that had its own bathroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Sorry to say, Pat, Pete, &amp; Julie had to share a bathroom with other guests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">We were meeting Amy at 5 p.m. in a local pub so immediately freshened up and took off walking to find the pub called Yates to join Amy for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>As we approached downtown we came upon a very old church and immediately stepped back into history when we walked into an old Cathedral named St. Deiniol (St. Daniel) Cathedral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The Cathedral was made entirely of very old stone, and we discovered it was built in the early 1200’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It was absolutely too beautiful to describe with old frescos depicting the life of Christ, a very old cross hanging from the ceiling, and a very old story to go along with its old edifice. It really was like traveling through a time machine back to the 13<sup>th</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We even heard the old pipe organ playing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">We finally wandered on to meet Amy and her 2 good friends, Riley and Sheilagh, to have dinner, and to discover what ales, lagers, and hard ciders tasted like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Julie, Aggie, and the boys really enjoyed an ale drink called Carling while I decided I really enjoyed the Strongbow hard cider with black current.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Yum!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We each had a sandwich with chips (really French fries), each trying something a little different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Pete tried the Bangors and mash, which is really sausages and mashed potatoes with onion gravy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I had a steak sandwich with a sweet onion relish sauce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Believe me boys and girls, the beef is certainly not good ole Iowa corn-fed beef, so anybody growing corn-fed beef can be very proud with what you supply to the American population.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>To say the least, beef was not a favorite of mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">We then proceeded to wonder around town hitting a few pubs here and there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Amy took us down to the pier, which is a pier leading out over the Menai Strait, a body of water that runs through the town of Bangor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>On our way back to the B&amp;B we stopped at a few more pubs called The Tap and Spile and the Shipyard along the way, meeting some very exceptionally friendly people along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We even ran into our B&amp;B host at one pub who promptly bought a round for all of us to celebrate our Wales adventure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>One gentleman even taught us a little Welsh, but sorry to say, I don’t remember a word of it now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He even told us about an old Welsh town with 52 letters in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>What fun!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Needless to say, we all slept quite soundly that night.</div><div class="MsoNormal">The following morning we awoke to a somewhat cloudy day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I was quite excited as Amy was going to play tour guide and take us to 2 of the exceptionally well-preserved castles in the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But first, we were going to experience a full English, which is a breakfast consisting of fried eggs, bacon (which to me was really ham), 2 sausages (which were more like a blah, mealy hot dogs), pork n’ beans, sautéed mushrooms, a grilled Roma tomato, toast, and OJ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Pat and I also noticed that when you ask for coffee, it is usually not perked coffee but instant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I am guessing since the English are tea-drinking people, real perked coffee is not a top priority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">We proceeded onto the bus station to purchase our tickets and head out to Beaumaris Castle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Oh my God…there really are no words to describe what a beautifully preserved castle it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This castle is located on Anglesey Island and was a fortress built by King Edward I for defending the coast line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This castle was built around 1289.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We entered the castle over the moat filled with water sporting beautiful swimming pairs of swans to create a Romeo and Juliet feel about the entrance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Pictures just had to be taken and I started snapping away in every direction trying to capture the feeling I was having about this place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>When we think of the United States having old things, we can only go back about 200 years in history, but imaging seeing something anywhere from 800 to 1000 years old!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I imagined myself as a knight running (even though I can’t run anymore) up the tiny, narrow stone stairs to the top fortress to defend my king, pointing my bow and arrow through tiny rectangular openings in the sides of the castle, and throwing my enemies in the dungeon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I know it sounds far-fetched, but imaging what really happened there is astounding and imaging whose footsteps you might have stepped in was awe-inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>King Arthur and Sir Lancelot lived in these ruins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It is truly one of those things if you have a chance to experience, you must.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We crawled around the fortresses and discovered every nook and cranny possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>What fun!!!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We were transported back to Bangor by bus and settled on eating at The Fat Cat Café for lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I had a meal of a Belgian waffle with caramelized hot sauce over bananas and ice cream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Yum is all I can say!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Steve tried a mackerel sandwich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Holy mackerel!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>He is an adventuresome eater though and had to try something different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I don’t think he was too fond of it though, too fishy tasting, he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I noticed some of the more popular cuisines in Wales are mushy peas (smashed up peas that look like baby food), the bangers and mash, soups are all pureed, and fish and chips (French fries).<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After lunch, we got back on the bus and headed over to the Caenarfon Castle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I’m sure glad we went to see Beaumaris Castle first because this one was even more exceptional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Again, we crawled around and to my 3 daughters, believe it or not, your old mother walked up or I should probably say crawled up, 142 very steep stone steps to get to the top of a tower that overlooked the entire castle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>That was quite a feat for me to those of you who know me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I am not a very physically active person, so this was quite a challenge for me especially with only being able to hang onto a rope as a stair rail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I climbed and climbed and then crawled up the last 10 to 12 steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I was totally exhausted once I made it to the top but it was totally worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>I felt like I should have shouted, “Romeo, Oh Romeo, where art thou Romeo”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But alas, my Romeo was standing right next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>The view was stupendous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This castle also was built sometime in the 13<sup>th</sup> century and in the center of the courtyard is a large circle floor where Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales, which simply means he was endowed the title of Prince by Queen Elizabeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This will also be the place where William will be given the title of Prince once Charles has taken over as king upon Elizabeth’s death.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Some of the interesting things I noticed about Wales is that green ivy grows everywhere…up trees, in the ditches, over fences, in sidewalk cracks, everywhere and I mean everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Chimneys are also very unique in Wales and England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Most houses sport anywhere from 1 to 4 chimneys, sometimes even more, each sporting very different looking tops…some looked like hen and chick flower pots, others like royal crowns, some like turned over soup bowls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Some had wire cages over the tops to keep the gulls from nesting on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>These chimneys led to fireplaces throughout the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Years ago each house had a fireplace in every room, therefore for each fireplace, 1 chimney was needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">Speaking of gulls, they are everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Sometimes while walking around I felt like I was in a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, “The Birds”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>They are everywhere and pooping everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We had commented numerous times that we had all been extremely lucky no one had been gull pooped on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We spoke too soon…on the ride back from the castle, Steve got gull pooped on.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">For those farmers out there reading this, you make your fences all wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>You need to take the rocks from your fields and build your fences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Paddocks or blocked off sections of fields are cordoned off for quite large herds of sheep to graze in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>You can see sheep everywhere you look. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Some words we found interesting were nappies, which are diapers; when someone graduates from school, they pass out; to rent is to let; to exit an area is way out; restrooms are toilets; yielding the right away is give way; an elevator is a lift; a car park is a parking lot; it is anti-clockwise and clockwise, not counter-clockwise; putting a sprint on is getting a move on; and a detour is deviated traffic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>There were others but too many to mention here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Oh and by the way, if you think gas (petro) is expensive in the U.S. you should have to buy it here…it’s 135.9 per liter, which is approximately $9 or $10 per gallon!!!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, I hope I haven’t bored all of you too much, but I have so much to tell and not enough time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We haven’t even gotten to Scotland yet but I will let Amy tell you about Scotland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>We are having an absolute blast, and I am treasuring every moment here as I am sure I will never return, so am trying to capture every moment to memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Everyone take care, and I’ll see you when we get back to the good ole’ USA."</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Stay posted for the Scotland experience!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Until next time...</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">~Amy</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -1.0in;"><br /></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-51703151938646971112011-04-09T21:58:00.001+01:002011-04-09T21:58:46.778+01:00Were a royal Family<div class="MsoNormal">Friday was a day of castle going for the Dupont (and Esser and Rotzoll) family. I act like I know what I’m doing when it comes to local travel in northern Wales, but really I’m just winging it. I was pretty sure I had the bus system figured out but I asked at the station just to make sure we were heading in the right direction. Our first stop was going to be Beaumaris and we needed to take the 57 or 58 bus. We waited at the “D stop” where they should both stop within a few minutes, and sure enough they did. Our bus driver was super cool. He was a big help and could tell we were a bunch of tourists. He did a commentary while we drove from Bangor to Beaumaris and I think everyone really enjoyed it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We arrived in Beaumaris and went right to castle exploring. Everyone thought the mote around the castle was pretty cool. I had been to the castle before so I tried my best at giving an educated tour. I really suck with all the history details but I know the year to remember is 1283. All of the Norman castles we built starting after 1283. We walked around the walls and then through the castle itself. (I feel like this part of the blog would be better from one of their perspectives because I have already been to the castles and explained what they were like and how I felt about it. Judy is taking detailed notes on everything they have been doing so I should have her do a guest blog; I will see if I can talk her into it because I’m sure it would make it more interesting.) After the castle we were going to go to the cute souvenir shop but it was closed, bummer! We went and got ice cream instead. Then we walked down to the pier, but they were working on it so that was kind of a bust too. </div><div class="MsoNormal">After Beaumaris we headed back to Bangor to catch a bus to Caenarfon. We decided we were hungry so we stopped for lunch at the Fat Cat. It was pretty tasty. (I don’t eat out much in Bangor, so I wasn’t really able to tell them where we should and shouldn’t eat but I think we did ok.) We were going to jump on the 5 bus to Caenarfon but 10 pulled up first and the sign on the front of the bus said Caenarfon too so we ended up taking that one. When we arrived at the bus station I wasn’t really sure which way to go because when I went there we came from a different direction and I just played follow the leader; I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were going. A local heard our dilemma so she pointed us in the right direction. It was pretty easy. All we had to do was walk around the corner, haha! I made the family sit through the extremely corney but educational video in the castle. It gave all the history that I really couldn’t remember. Everyone kept asking me questions but I never really had good (or correct) answers for them. I told Judy if there was anything she did in the Ceanarfon castle she should climb to the highest tower; the Eagle’s Nest. You can see forever in every direction from up there. She did manage to make it and I’m pretty sure she was happy she did. She was such a trooper! We hit a few of the gift shops and then headed back to Bangor. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">That night I took them to a little hole in the wall restaurant for the traditional fish and chips and mushy peas. We were all stuffed by the time we were done eating. I even think I enjoyed the fish this time (it was the same place I went a few weeks ago). It was a Friday in lent so I thought fish and chips were a pretty good idea. That night we spent time in the B&amp;B dining room playing the good old game of euchre. Dad and Pat and I versus Steve, Aggie and Mom; we got creamed every game I think. It was pretty funny, and it didn’t really feel like we were even playing euchre. We kept getting distracted with random things, but it was still fun. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Once again, they decided I wasn’t capable of walking back to my room by myself. So, everyone but Judy decided to walk me home. This ended up being a good thing. Dad and Steve hadn’t yet seen my place and they hadn’t walked bitch hill, so the girls thought they should. After we got to my room we decided we were still thirsty and we still needed to celebrate Aggie’s “birthday”. So where did I take them? Patty’s pub of course! We had a round of beers and then Aggie decided we needed to do a jager bomb for her birthday shot. After that I was ready for bed. They actually let me walk home the rest of the way by myself and then they made their way back down the hill.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Until next time…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">~Amy</div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-49783620703586048092011-04-09T21:50:00.001+01:002011-04-09T21:55:20.893+01:00Thursday's Op and the Arrival of the family<div class="MsoNormal">So, I’m sure you all want to know all about the family and what we have been up to. I am writing this on the train to Glasgow to start our tour of Scotland. I am going to try to get caught up on the blogs since I have 6 hours. So I need to start where I left off. On Thursday morning all I could think about was how the family was going to make it from the Manchester airport to Bangor. It shouldn’t have been too hard, but they are from I.O.W.A (Idiots out wandering around) so I could help but worry. Needless to say they made it no problem (but I will get to that later). </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So back to Thursday. I knew we would be doing some water activity because that is all we had left on our list of things to do. So, in knowing we would be playing in the water, I wore my swimming suit, I’m sure glad I did. The day was pretty crappy/rainy/misty/hazy when I got up. So a typical Welsh day. Sad par was, I told the family the forecast was supposed to be beautiful. You just can’t trust the forecast around here I guess! Anyways, Llion told us we were going to be playing in the Menai Strait and it was up to us on the equipment we wanted to use. We could take the canoes out or the kayaks. Since we had done the canoes already we voted to go with the kayaks. Now, I’ve been kayaking before but these kayaks were unlike anything I had been in before. These were sea kayaks so they were narrow and long. We had to sit in the kayaks on land and adjust where the foot plate was and then we launched.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The day out of the Menai was filled with lots of paddling on one side of the kayak. My kayak liked to drift to the left so my left arm got a hell of a workout trying to correct myself. The kayaks were all pretty spinny and sensitive to our paddling. It took most of us quite awhile to get used to it. By the time we paddled how I was able to go in a straight line for the most part. We were paddling with the tide, or so Llion told us, but that was iffy at times. The Menai Strait is like a river but it is connected to the sea so it changes direction of flow with the tides. Everywhere there is a stationary object in the water, the water is flowing in one direction on one side and the opposite direction on the other. This gave us a chance to play around and do some fun stuff. We got to learn how to paddle into the ‘eddies’ as they are called and swing our back ends around real fast and make like a u-turn with the changing direction of the water. We paddled quite a ways and the water wasn’t doing exactly what Llion it to be doing so we stopped for lunch. After we finished lunch we headed back out, and by this time the water had changed directions. It was really nice because we got to move with the current. We did some more playing around in the water. There was one spot where the water was really churning but Llion didn’t warn us. It was hard to see that the water was churning until you were in it. Llion said all of our faces were priceless. We all did fine though. We used all the techniques Llion taught us and no one managed to capsize. Leaning is a big deal when kayaking. If you lean the wrong way it is really easy to capsize, but most of the time you use the leaning to your advantage to help your turn. Eventually, all 8 of us held onto each other’s kayaks and we just floated with the current. It was really relaxing and calming. We all just kind of sat there and shot the shit. All we really needed was an ice cold beer and the day would have been perfect. I think Llion would have joined us too. Once we got close to the dock there was a man made tunnel we could paddle into, so we did. It was really cool and Llion told us at one time if was used as a swimming pool. After we docked, Riley and I decided we wanted to get wet. We had wet suits on so we figured we may as well put them to good use. So Riley and I jumped off the end of the dock twice. They water was freeing but it was so much fun. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The whole time we were floating I kept wondering if the family had managed to find their way to Bangor. If all went well they would have arrived on the train at 1:30. The train goes over one of the bridges we paddled under and a little after 1:30 I brought up the fact that if they made it they would have been on that train. I shouldn’t have worried about them because as soon as I got back to the center my phone rang and it was them. I was never so excited to hear my mom’s voice. She told me everything was ahead of schedule and they actually got into Bangor earlier than they planned. Les (the guy that runs the B&amp;B they stayed at actually wasn’t there because I told him it would be around 2 when they got there. So, like the friendly people they are, they started wandering around and the guy who lives next to the B&amp;B let them in. They sat there and shot the shit until Les came back. They have no problems making new friends in new places. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So after I got back, I got all cleaned up and finally met them at a pub around 5. Everyone looked great and of course they were enjoying a nice cold drink. We enjoyed a nice meal at Yates with our nice cold drinks that tasted oh so good after a hard day’s work (well travel and kayaking). We were trying to decide what to do for the rest of the night; take a guess what they wanted to do (and I can’t say I disagreed)? They wanted to hit some pubs and keep drinking. I knew of a few good places. We hit up the discount booze just in case we needed it to drink at the B&amp;B. We dropped off the booze and then headed toward the pier. The sun was just setting so I thought it would be beautiful. It was already closed but they got a taste of the beauty of Bangor. The day actually ended up being quite nice after the rain went away. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After the pier we stopped at the Tap and Spiel pub for a drink. While there we played a game of pool. I had played pool over here before and it just isn’t the same. The balls and holes are smaller and there are red and blue balls instead of the multicolored stripes and solids like we are used to at home. I warned them that the last time I played, it was a never ending game, but we tried anyways. Just like the last time, it was a never ending game. It was mom and I versus dad and Aggie. We did have a lot of fun, but it felt like we played FOREVER! The family swore that Les said to say his name at the Tap and Spiel because they knew him, but they must have been wrong because no one seemed to know who Les was. We headed back towards the B&amp;B when we walked past another pub; when we looked in the window there was Les! So we stopped in and had a round with him. It was a cute little place where we sat and shot the shit with some locals. Judy even found a few that would speak Welsh for the camera. We then made our way back to the B&amp;B to have a few more. Eventually we were asked to keep it down; we just don’t know how to not have a good time! Aggie, Pat and Mom refused to let me walk home by myself, even though I had done it a million times before. So they walked me up Bitch Hill. Then I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to find their way back to the B&amp;B, but they managed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The half day that I got to spend with the family was awesome! The next post will pick up right where this one left off.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Until next time…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">~Amy</div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-1369836448301189372011-04-09T01:23:00.000+01:002011-04-09T01:23:17.542+01:00The Family Has Arrived!Oh yes the Dupont are here, I hope Bangor is ready for them! Even if Bangor isn't ready, they don't care. I just wanted to make a quick post. I will write more tomorrow while we are on the train. My family got here yesterday (early afternoon) but I didn't get to see them until last night. It was a welcoming reunion since I haven't seen anyone from the family since&nbsp;January. We found a few local pubs last night and I took them to see a few castles today. Tonight I gave them a taste of Pub Life, Bangor style. I'm pretty sure they enjoyed it. More details to come...<br /><br />Until tomorrow...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-17188397228497027812011-04-04T16:22:00.000+01:002011-04-04T16:22:25.535+01:00Upcoming events!I know 6 people back in Iowa who are getting super excited! On Wednesday afternoon my mom, dad, aunt Aggie, aunt Pat, aunt Judy and uncle Steve will be setting off on their own journey to come and visit me. If you think I'm excited, I bet they are even more! I know my mom is nervous and tired of packing. We are going on a bus tour of Scotland while they are here and the luggage restrictions for the bus are different from those on the plane. So my mom is all fed up with trying to figure out what she can and ca't take. I remember that feeling, but now I feel like a pro when it comes to packing.<br /><br />So this week, I need to buckle down and really get stuff done. I'm making good progress on my second Hollywood essay, which is all about Alfred Hitchcock. I feel like I have been watching so many of Hitch's movies that they are all blurring together. I guess that is what they are supposed to do, Hitch has a very distinct style and all of his movies seem to follow the same rules. I did manage to get my book review done and I'm currently all caught up on my journals. I also have an OP essay that I need to work on. The OP essay, the Hollywood essay and the book review are all due on the same day, May 6th, which is the week after Easter break.<br /><br />This is the last week of classes before Easter break and then we have 3 weeks off. Then we have one week of lectures and then it is finals. So the rest of my time here in Wales is going to fly by. Besides my family being here over Easter break and our tour of Scotland, we (the program group of Americans) are going to Ireland. That should be pretty amazing!<br /><br />After Ireland we get back on a Thursday afternoon and Friday is the big royal wedding. The wedding doesn't seem to be that big of a deal here in the UK but according to my mom it's all over the TV back home. Either way, a few of us are going to jump on a train the night we get back from Ireland and head to London. I'm sure we won't get to see anything and we are only going to be there for the day, but I'm sure the buzz will be exciting. AND we will be able to say we were THERE! I'm super stoked!<br /><br />We also have plans to go back to London at the end of May. We are going to see Wicked again and we are also going to see Phantom of the Opera. I'm so excited! I'ma little sad that it seems I won't be exploring outside of the UK but I shouldn't complain because the UK is pretty awesome! Guess I will just have to have another adventure some day to tour the rest of Europe. Cheers!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-22285863521017033052011-03-31T22:46:00.001+01:002011-03-31T22:47:11.153+01:00Gorge ScramblingYet again, I think I have found my favorite OP activity! Today was so much fun! I had a great time from the time I woke up this morning until this very moment. Today we went gorge scrambling, and you may ask what that is. Basically it is climbing up a big waterfall. It reminded me so much of my childhood playing around the crick with Josh and Joe. It was so much fun!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AdvpNPj-PrQ/TZTuJ5cD90I/AAAAAAAAAE4/gMVPnZkZolY/s1600/DSC04272.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AdvpNPj-PrQ/TZTuJ5cD90I/AAAAAAAAAE4/gMVPnZkZolY/s320/DSC04272.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>So the best way to describe the events are through pictures. You have to imagine yourself climbing up the most beautiful waterfall you have ever seen. Picture this waterfall in a&nbsp;beautifully&nbsp;wooded area with big boulders. The only downfall to the day was the fact that the water was cold. The weather was beautiful. It was a little windy but we really couldn't tell since we were in the woods. The sun was shinning and everyone was in great spirits. Basically we just monkeyed around and climbed up whatever way we found fit. Every so often Llion would give us a challenge such as the one you can see here. This picture off to the left represents our first&nbsp;obstacle. The two rocks put together there collectively make up the Elephant's Bum. What we had to do was shimmy through the crack and come up on the other side. Not too bad unless you are a little&nbsp;claustrophobic. We were crawling through the rushing water so that was fun too. Our first chance to really get wet, but don't worry, there would be plenty more opportunities. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mCxPzTT-ubw/TZTufL8ntcI/AAAAAAAAAE8/U8PJrSb6jtA/s1600/DSC04283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mCxPzTT-ubw/TZTufL8ntcI/AAAAAAAAAE8/U8PJrSb6jtA/s320/DSC04283.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This picture here is Melissa, Lauren and Riley just goofing around. We were waiting for the guys to finish climbing through the Elephant's Bum...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3cBD40yKJgM/TZTu0GsT1GI/AAAAAAAAAFA/EPVz98OA8ag/s1600/DSC04285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3cBD40yKJgM/TZTu0GsT1GI/AAAAAAAAAFA/EPVz98OA8ag/s320/DSC04285.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>As you can see, the surroundings were so beautiful. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a nice photo. Best part about the photo is the purple waterproof outfit from head to toe, the life vest (or&nbsp;buoyancy&nbsp;aid as they call them here) and the rockin' orange helmet. I know I look sexy, be jealous!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xWcP8GRgah8/TZTvJjo6JDI/AAAAAAAAAFE/KJCkP08ps7A/s1600/DSC04292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xWcP8GRgah8/TZTvJjo6JDI/AAAAAAAAAFE/KJCkP08ps7A/s320/DSC04292.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Our next adventure or obstacle was from this scene here. Llion rigged up some ropes to help us climb along this slippery (or slippy as Llion says) rock face. As you can see it was nice and wet which did make it extra slippery. Not to mention our wellies (boots) were not the best rock climbing shoes. So we got to play monkey on the ropes. We&nbsp;swung from one to the next while trying not to fall in. Most of us faired pretty well on the task and we had some great teamwork moments.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8w4IEnxAvBc/TZTvcqLuJYI/AAAAAAAAAFI/zbQcmEHtS7k/s1600/DSC04319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8w4IEnxAvBc/TZTvcqLuJYI/AAAAAAAAAFI/zbQcmEHtS7k/s320/DSC04319.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>After monkeying around we got to play snake while thinking skinny. Llion challenged us to squeeze through some pretty tight spaces. It was a lot of fun and I was a little nervous. I really don't like being in places I can't get out of, but I took my time and did some deep breathing. I made it through the first one no problem, but the second one was just a little too small. I tried but I just didn't fit, but at least I tried!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8J7tl3guOko/TZTvvnFqjUI/AAAAAAAAAFM/5kdP_vL_pSA/s1600/DSC04349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8J7tl3guOko/TZTvvnFqjUI/AAAAAAAAAFM/5kdP_vL_pSA/s320/DSC04349.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>After squeezing through some tights spots we got to feel the "power" of the waterfall itself. Our "challenge" was to stand under the waterfall and feel it's power. This wasn't as bad as it seemed, besides the fact that it was super cold. Like I said we had plenty of opportunities to get wet. The waterproofs actually did their job quite well. I stayed pretty dry while standing under the powerful waterfall.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fo-iDTOJ-ls/TZTwCFo-Q9I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/Ymf2Ktdk26U/s1600/DSC04357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fo-iDTOJ-ls/TZTwCFo-Q9I/AAAAAAAAAFQ/Ymf2Ktdk26U/s320/DSC04357.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>&nbsp;After some more&nbsp;climbing&nbsp;we came to yet another&nbsp;gorgeous&nbsp;shot of the waterfall. we decided it was time to get a group shot. We messed around and got some fun ones. but we also managed to take a decent one too. So front row starting with me then Melissa and Lauren. Back row is K.J. Eric (goofball pose) Woody (a.k.a. Matt) and Riley. We sure missed Teresa who is normally part of our Thursday team. We are really a great group and I feel so lucky to get to hang out with these guys every week!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8lAUm04kmI/TZTwV6Lq43I/AAAAAAAAAFU/6BN73-qUCGc/s1600/DSC04366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y8lAUm04kmI/TZTwV6Lq43I/AAAAAAAAAFU/6BN73-qUCGc/s320/DSC04366.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>After we managed to make it all the way to the top of the gorge we came to a little watering hole. You could imagine this as a hot tub; deep in the middle with a ledge all the way around. Almost like a hot tub right? Yeah right! Try water that is so cold it feels like needles when you jump in. Why the heck would we jump into freeing cold water? Why not!? is what I say! This was our last challenge of the day and oh man it was something! I was so excited to jump in, not really sure why, but I was excited. As soon as I hit that icy cold water I was wondering what in the hell&nbsp;possessed&nbsp;me to do such a stupid thing? Well because of the challenge and everyone else did it so I had to too! It was so thrilling to find the courage to jump. As soon as I hit the water, well you can guess. I was so cold all I could think about was getting out. I struggled to swim to the "ledge" because my legs and arms didn't really work too well in the cold water. The best part about being wet was the fact that my body quickly warmed the layer of water around me. The water in my wellies soon warmed up and kept my feet nice and warm.<br /><br />We hiked the path back down and celebrated the great day we just had. Everyone had such a good time! Our final challenge was to change out of our soaking wet clothes into something dry. Boy was that fun! I just love changing in the middle of the car park (parking lot). It took a lot of effort but I managed. I'm pretty sure this was my favorite day. The weather was amazing and the scenery was beautiful. I can't wait for next time!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amydupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-25313045728481559502011-03-28T10:22:00.002+01:002011-03-28T10:36:30.053+01:00Back Where I Come From<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0000ee;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5FP8kGiJSI"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5FP8kGiJSI</a></span><br /><br />This is a shout out to everyone at home who I love and miss so much! This is a song that, no matter where on earth I may be, always brings me back home. Enjoy, and feel free to sing along!<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">In the town where I was raised</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">The clock ticks and the cattle graze</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Time passed with Amazing Grace</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Now you can lie on a riverbank</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Paint your name on a water tank</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Or miscount all the beers you drank</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Where I'll be when it's said and done</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">I'm proud as anyone</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">We learned in Sunday school</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Who made the sun shine through</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">I know who made the moonshine, too</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Blue eyes on a Saturday night</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Tan legs in the broad day light</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">TV's, they were black and white</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Where I'll be when it's said and done</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">I'm proud as anyone</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Some say it's a backward place</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Narrow minds on a narrow way</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">I make it a point to say</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">That that's where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">That's where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Where I'll be when it's said and done</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">I'm proud as anyone</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">That's where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Back where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">I'm an old Tennessean</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;*Iowan*</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">And I'm proud as anyone</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">That's where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">That's where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">That's where I come from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;">&nbsp;</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica; font-size: 11px;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Until next time...</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">~Amy</span></span>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-49054211439309870772011-03-27T17:20:00.000+01:002011-03-27T17:20:15.820+01:00SnowdonSo yesterday, just for fun, a few of us decided to climb Mount Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales. It was quite an adventure and we had a lot of fun. It first involved us getting to the mountain. None of us had used the bus system in northern Wales, so that was an adventure in itself. Friday night we all got together to map out our mission. We decided we needed to get on the #85 to Llanberis and then take another small bus to the base of Snowdon. No problem, right? Well, the first bus was no problem to get on. We weren't 100% sure where to get on the bus. Bright and early yesterday &nbsp;morning we walked down to the closest bus stop and looked over the sign. If we were reading the sign correctly there would be a #85 stopping at 8:53; it was currently 8:23. We had plenty of time and while we waited there should have been 8 other buses stopping. The funny part was 8 other buses went by but none of them actually stopped. By creeping on other locals we figured out that you had to actually signal the bus to stop otherwise it would just fly on by. Good thing there were other people at this stop that were riding other buses. So as we saw #85 coming along we flagged the driver down like we knew exactly what we were doing. We paid our fair and we were golden, or so we thought.<br /><br />Once we arrived in the small town of Llanberis, we realized we had no idea where we were supposed to get off. Luckily it wasn't hard for us to figure that one out. We eventually came to a huge bus stop where there were tons of people gathered around that all looked like mountain hikers; we assumed they had the same idea as us; climb Snowdon. As soon as we got off #85 another bus pulled up and everyone crammed onto it; we assumed it would take us where we needed to go; and sure enough it did! One more mission accomplished. We soon arrived at a parking lot at the base of Snowdon, now where? We went into the small shop and we must have looked like we didn't have a clue what we were doing because a guide came up to us asking if we needed any help. We told him we wanted to take the Pyg path up to the summit if he could just point us in the right direction we would be very thankful. After a long conversation he had us talked into needing a map. So we went to the gift shop and bought the 4.95 map... that we didn't really need but got it just in case.<br /><br />We knew where we were going and we were off. We really wouldn't have had to ask directions at all. All we would have had to do was follow the giant mob up the mountain. There were tons of people who obviously had the same idea as us. The day was so beautiful. It was a perfect day to make the climb. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the top and the whole way all we had to do was stay on the path. It was a little bit boring especially considering there were so many people doing the same thing. Don't get me wrong it was a beautiful climb and we got a hell of a work out, its just in OP we don't normally stick to a path. So about 2 hours into it we decided (and when I say we I mean I decided) to get off the beaten path. The path took a big detour around the steep part of the mountain so we decided to climb straight up instead of going around. I don't know if it was the best decision but I felt accomplished after we got up it. It was like climbing on kitty litter which made it very challenging especially since it was like straight up. Oh well, we made it AND we were almost at the summit. It was about a 10 minute walk and we were there. There were so many people at the top, it was crazy.<br /><br />After enjoying our lunch we headed back down. We didn't take the same path; we took one that would take us right back to Llanberis, no need to take another bus. The path we took was very boring; so to make it more interesting, about half way down we got off the path again. There was a peak off to side that had some huge boulders on it. So using some of our OP skills we did some bouldering. It was a lot of fun messing around. We even played lava; which made me feel like a kid again. If you have never played it is where we said we could only step on rocks because everything else was lava. If you stepped on the grass you were dead because you feel in the lava. We played that from the peak all the way back to the path. It was so much fun! Overall, the day was a huge accomplishment. We made it to the mountain on our own and we hiked over a mile high. Not to mention it was just a great day to enjoy the day outside AND I got sunburned! Imagine that, sunburn in Wales!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />~Amy<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OI1i6ak7fso/TY9hS1YAo1I/AAAAAAAAAEo/WtZODYZXqxs/s1600/DSC04248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OI1i6ak7fso/TY9hS1YAo1I/AAAAAAAAAEo/WtZODYZXqxs/s320/DSC04248.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MO05mtdysdg/TY9g-rEBGdI/AAAAAAAAAEk/h5zNlPaP9sM/s1600/DSC04225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MO05mtdysdg/TY9g-rEBGdI/AAAAAAAAAEk/h5zNlPaP9sM/s320/DSC04225.JPG" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrQ-wtbo3wE/TY9h4AbVudI/AAAAAAAAAEw/M-pZ6vmcQu0/s1600/DSC04253.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zrQ-wtbo3wE/TY9h4AbVudI/AAAAAAAAAEw/M-pZ6vmcQu0/s320/DSC04253.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V9wzzydNRtg/TY9hlSJszpI/AAAAAAAAAEs/GGbX1-mP3j4/s1600/DSC04251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V9wzzydNRtg/TY9hlSJszpI/AAAAAAAAAEs/GGbX1-mP3j4/s320/DSC04251.JPG" width="320" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAbUz9IzMCU/TY9iLJ1rKpI/AAAAAAAAAE0/gdn73-6HqGE/s1600/DSC04271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QAbUz9IzMCU/TY9iLJ1rKpI/AAAAAAAAAE0/gdn73-6HqGE/s320/DSC04271.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5443510832507810564.post-19174362245910457972011-03-25T13:31:00.000+00:002011-03-25T13:31:43.339+00:00Outdoor Rock ClimbingSo it really is official, I really don't like rock climbing. I don't know what it is but this is something I really don't enjoy. This week for OP we went rock climbing outside. It was such a beautiful day; I bet it was in the 60s. We were actually really warm climbing, which is very rare for Wales. The sun was shinning and it was so beautiful; I think I even got a tan ;o)<br /><br />We had a different lady this week, not quite sure why. Anyways, she was not nearly as fun as Llion. She seemed like she didn't know what she was doing or where we were going. She just really threw the day off. When we got to the mountain we were going to climb at she didn't seem to know where exactly we were going. We kind of wandered around for awhile and then finally came to where we would be climbing. Then she had to secure the climbing lines at the top of the rock face. I think if Llion would have been the one doing the activity he would have had us help with this or at least let us watch. Instead we waited at the bottom for 2 HOURS while she secured them herself. So we sat around waiting, soaking up the sun; which was kind of fun.<br /><br />Once she came back down we finally got to do some climbing, which I wasn't overly excited about. I was determined to do better than I did the time we climbed inside but I still wasn't really excited; especially after the wild goose chase we went through to get there. Riley was my climbing parter and she climbed first while I was the belayer. She did really well which kind of encouraged me because she struggled with rock climbing the week we were at the wall. If she could do it without any troubles then I might actually have a shot. Once it was my turn I tied in and set off. With much difficulty I actually made it to the top. I was really shaken up like the last time but I still managed to do it. I was really proud of myself and the descent down was a lot of fun. I would be ok if we could just do the going down thing. I really like being belayed down, I just don't really like climbing up. I guess I just don't have the strength to do it. We had 4 other lines to climb on. I tried 2 more and then I had enough. I didn't get to the top but at least I tried. And I did make it to the top on one of the lines that a lot of people struggled with. Made me feel pretty good too. Overall the day was a success but I will be ok if I don't do it again.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rLroKM3jhq4/TYyY_2Jv-fI/AAAAAAAAAEc/6Zh6BA8YHdE/s1600/DSC04210.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rLroKM3jhq4/TYyY_2Jv-fI/AAAAAAAAAEc/6Zh6BA8YHdE/s320/DSC04210.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-p4jk48Q23jE/TYyZCc4H8SI/AAAAAAAAAEg/lXtLChdRTqU/s1600/DSC04213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-p4jk48Q23jE/TYyZCc4H8SI/AAAAAAAAAEg/lXtLChdRTqU/s320/DSC04213.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>dupontamymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14537817638886484901noreply@blogger.com0